Alice, Just Alice
by Dr. Mini me
Summary: "Anyways, I was just wondering. What were you wanting to ask?" Jake sounded curious. I paused wondering if I should really ask then said screw it. "By any chance...are you shooting yourself up with steroids?" My bad.' Jake took one look and decided that was it. He'd imprinted. So long Bella, Hello Ali. But whose going to tell Alice? (JACOB/OC not alice Cullen)
1. Chapter 1

"Alice." I turned around from the mirror to look back at Nina, my twin. It was the first day of Junior year in high school, at 17 I was a little awkward if not just down right depressing.

"What?" I raised my one finished brow, I was still holding my pencil to work on the second. Eyebrows take a lot of work, okay? I had a thing about stuff being even and right now my left was a little longer than my right.

"I need to pee some day soon." She grinned back at me. She was always happy and I wasn't sure how she was. I wasn't all that confident outside of the fact that I was getting through high school and I hadn't done jail time...those were pretty good, right? Yeah.

"You can hold it." I dismissed as I turned back around to drag the charcoal over my brown brow. The pencil was the same colour as my hair now, most of my hair anyways, which gave me some amount of comfort.

I heard the door close and the sound of... Oh. Oh great, she was just peeing anyways. We'd been together for 18 years in one house with one bathroom. The comfort lines that most families had were gone here, long gone. Our mother worked long hours leaving us with the Clearwaters often enough that Seth walked in the house whenever he was hungry or their TV went out.

"What happens if I just...bump you?" She asked as she tapped my elbow causing the line to sudden jerk up.

"Great." I glared at her in the mirror as she washed her hands.

"It's alright, suits your personality anyways." She shrugged with her sass and left the bathroom as I rubbed off the line on my forehead and continued to fill it in.

It was misty and dreary as usual when Nina and I started to walk to school, Seth was tagging along behind us, bickering with Leah. She'd gone through a hard spot when Sam broke up with her only to date Emily but we all pulled her through it. At the time Nina was dealing with a bit of her constant illnesses, that time it was just the flu.

Nina was sunny through the whole thing which always threw me off. Ever since we were children she'd had a weakened immune system which lead to random things like pneumonia from what was a cold or the flu from a bus ride with an older sick lady. She took a round of meds in the morning to help combat it but it'd been better than before.

"Leah. Just let him not wear the hoodie. He'll be _fine._ " I yelled back after I heard a yell from Seth about him not being 9 anymore.

"Hey!" She responded, I looked back to see her flipping me off. I rolled my eyes and looked forward again as we crossed the road to the reservation's high-school. I had English first but we started with an assembly for the entire school to 'welcome' us back from break which meant I'd miss most of the class. I sat down next to Nina in the second to last row of the auditorium.

"Holy crap.." I muttered as Jared, Paul, Embry, I mean almost all of the little guys of last school year came in. They were _ripped_. My first thought was between growth hormones or just straight up steroids.

My mother used to say there was something in the water here that caused all the men to jump heights and sizes suddenly, I was starting to believe her when Jacob Black came in...though she also used to say it made them disappear one day and she was right about that with dad anyways. They all ducked their heads and sat in the row behind us, I forced myself to stop staring. With my curiousity, I'd see at least one of them in a class this year...could ask them then if they were shooting up some how.

"Don't you _dare_ ask them." Nina flicked me, I glared at her as she shook her head. She always knew. I didn't know _how_ she knew, but she did.

"But what if the-" I whispered back and she cut me off with a finger pushed against my lips.

"No." She stated with finality.

"Fine. I'll leave the potential body builder nuts alone." I huffed in my seat and sat back again, waiting for it to be over.

The little assembly was over in the next half hour and the mad dash to get out of an auditorium with only two exits was on. It was always a push and shove session to get out of your row and get out of the room. Often I'd roll into a ball and force people to move around me but Nina was determined that I wasn't going to be late this year.

"Nina?" I tried to shout for her over the crowd of highschoolers and found I couldn't see her past chests and shoulders. She'd gotten me out of the seat and row to disappear into a crowd. Damn.

I was sort of moved along with the power of the crowd and decided I'd see her after. Someone elbowed me in the shoulder and I tried to elbow them back to find that it just hurt.

"Sorry." A deep voice resonated behind me, I looked back to see Jake. We weren't close last year but I'd said hey to him every once in a while.

"Its all good." I waved his apology and stepped off to the side until I saw familiar brown hair.

"NINA!" I screamed and saw her jump. She looked over at me with wide eyes...as did a few other people.

"Jesus..." She shook her head as she started to walk with me. I shrugged it off, I wanted to get her attention and I got it. Mission accomplished on my part.

"Hey." I looked over from the window to see hulk-Jake. I nodded in greeting. It was a weird history class that was focused on the tribe's history in particular. It was something that only Juniors had to deal with...wait a second here.

"Aren't you younger? Like a sophomore?" I whispered as I pointed at Jake.

"I'm only like a year younger, Alice." He nodded and then shrugged.

"Then why are you...in here?" I slowly nodded as I took in his overall size.

"I'm Billy's son, it kinda makes sense that I'd be taking the tribe's history the most." He explained with what had been a boyish grin at one point. Now it was more...large and teethy. I paused a second, staring at his newly tatted arm before deciding to ask. He was pretty chill, right?

"Hey Jake...Can I ask you something?" I asked slowly looking at his eyes. They were rather warm feeling to look into if not a little focused.

"You just did but yeah. Totally, Ali." He laughed softly as I rolled my eyes. Okay now they were kinda creepy.

"Ali?" I asked with some curiousity. Not even Nina had ever called me that. He froze for a second before shrugging.

"Bad nickname?" His head tilted much like a dogs would.

"Alice EVERS." I looked away from him to the angry teacher. He was standing there with his arms crossed, one hand still holding the book open.

"We're sorry, sir." I opened my mouth to apologize when Jake apparently decided to do it for me. I watched as he was automatically pardoned in indignation. My mouth slid open with shock as he went right back to teaching and Jake just turned back around to me to give me a thumbs up.

I huffed and grumbled in my seat for the rest of the class while Jake tried to whisper then went to writing notes and sliding them to me. I slid them right back and looked out the window. I would have gotten a detention, _at least._ Pretty sure it was residual hate from my freshman year's prank of TPing the school...I couldn't blame them honestly.

I got up and started to walk down the hall, texting Nina to ask where she was at for lunch. I bumped into something large and the phone fell out of my hand. I leaned down to find there was already a hand on it.

"Oh...Hey, Jake." I greeted awkwardly as I stood and took the phone when he handed it to me. He grinned at me and fell into step with me as we walked.

"Anyways, I was just wondering. What were you wanting to ask?" Jake sounded curious. I paused wondering if I should really ask then said screw it.

"By any chance...are you shooting yourself up with steroids?" As soon as I got the question out I felt a light smack across my shoulder.

"Ah! Nina!" I spun to see my twin glaring at me with her arms crossed. She looked at Jake as she pulled me away from the guy.

"Sorry, Jacoby. She doesn't know what shes saying a lot of the time." I looked back to see Jake starting to grin as she pulled me away, apologizing.

"Jake."

"His names Jake." I corrected her right as he did. I made a hand gesture as if to say ' _see?'._ She waved us both and pulled me into the cafeteria as she scolded me for asking him that. I shrugged it off, like always she was right but I didn't really mind. We sat down outside under a tree as she sighed and shook her head.

"For a girl that dresses so girly, you need to learn some kind of manners when you talk to random people." She decided as I looked down. I was wearing a dress made out of brass fabrics. It had a short flared skirt with a gathered waist and flower-like sleeves, it felt nice under the tree. My nails were painted as usual, this time with a holographic top coat over a dark blue shimmer. I hadn't done any designs today.

"Hey!" Jake came out of the school almost jogging, the other weirdly muscly guys were following him and laughing between each other.

"Good god." I heard Nina mumble under her breath as I snorted at her reaction.

"Seeee?" I demonstrated with my hands as he got closer. She narrowed her eyes at me and faded into a friendly face as Jake was only like a foot or two away.

"Is it okay if we sit with you?" He asked quickly as he motioned to the guys behind him. Their faces had turned serious instead of the carefree look they had before.

"Of course! Have a seat." Nina was always ready to make new friends but I wasn't sure if I wanted to make friends with these guys. I was only 5"4, Nina was a little taller but I was still a little intimidated.


	2. Chapter 2

_EDIT: 10/11/2016 01:04 AM_

 _Changed Jakes height from 6"17' to 6"7'_

* * *

Jake sat down with a large omph as he waved over the rest of the guys. He sat cross-legged but was so damn big that he might as well have just stretched out over me. He had a large grocery sized bag...in fact all of them seemed to have that. It sat in his lap, he was wearing Jeans and a hoodie that had been cut of at the shoulders. It seemed common for his little...culty group thing. They all had the same tat too.

"...In caramel, in the red sugar stuff, in gum, I mean anything really!" He was chatting excitedly about apples and how much he liked them in caramel and candy and by themselves. I nodded slowly as I took a bite out of the green apple I had in my hands.

"Good grief, Jacob. Are you trying to become like the biggest quarterback _ever_? Thats like 30,000 calories right there." I asked incredulously as I watched him take out a liter of water, lemonade, muffins, sandwiches...

"Alice!" Nina hissed my name as she glared at me. I knew I'd be scolded later for being rude to him again.

"Nah. I just burn a lot really fast." He let out a laugh and I was taken aback yet again. It wasn't as bad the second time...kinda. It was like a wave of sound crashed into my face, honestly.

"Ah, just call me Jake. Oh! By the way, this is Paul, Jared, Embry, and Quil! Guys this is Ali and her sister, Nina." Jake introduced the rest of the guys that just nodded back at us. Nina and I shared a look at Ali but I let it go. I'd never had a nickname before, most people thought Alice was fine by itself. I watched as Jared stood and waved at a mousy looking girl across the way, I think her name was Kimberly? She scuttled over to us looking awkward but in total awe of Jared...the look was mutual apparently.

"This is my girlfriend, Kim. All good if she sits here too?" Jared looked at Jake who then looked at me. I went bug eyed. This was a lot of people, I wasn't used to this number of people eating with us. I mean Leah and Seth did sometimes but...theres like four of them and they're multiplying.

"Of course!" Nina jumped in, Jared still paused until I nodded in unison with Nina. After that he sat back down, pulling her into his lap. I watched with some amount of fascination as he changed entirely, he wasn't stone-faced anymore...just really freaking affectionate with her. He'd laid his head down on her shoulder as she talked about a class she'd just come out of and fed him bites of some sandwich she had in her hand.

"They're always like this." Jake whispered to me softly, he laid his hand on my forearm to do so. So I guess this was normal then? It felt kinda awkward for me. Like I was interrupting their date. Nina cleared her throat awkwardly and looked down at her lunch then at mine.

"No!" I slapped her hand abruptly as she went for my baby carrots.

"But Al-" She pouted at me and rubbed her hand.

"My carrot. You should have made some before we left." I brandished a carrot as I spoke and took a bite out of it. She rolled her eyes and looked over at Jake's lunch, seeming to think about it but decided not to ask when she ate another one of her grapes.

"What was Chem like for you, Ali? Have any trouble with it?" Jake took a huge freaking bite out of one of his sandwiches.

"It was kinda boring. Always have trouble with sciences, you?" I responded as I looked at the tiny piece of bread in his mammoth sized hands.

"Ah, I'm great with that stuff. Sciences and mechanics are my thing. Ever need your car or computer fixed up? I'm your guy." He replied and took another bite. It looked like a little tea cake at some fancy British tea restaurant or something instead of a large piece of bread with lettuce and meat in his hands.

"Actually, our mother's had some issues with her heat." Nina added. I glanced at her, was she seriously going to scold me for asking if he used steroids but was going to ask him to work on our mom's car?

"Oh yeah?" Jake questioned as he took a hand full of chips.

"Yeah. Think you might be able to be our big fix it guy?" She pointedly ignored my glances as she went on. I looked at him to see him chewing but he was nodding, then back at her to see she had this sickly sweet smile with her hands crossed in her lap. Was she _seriously_ trying to flirt her way into him fixing mom's car?

"Oh totally. No problem." Jake nodded. Oh that poor man. He fell for it.

"Great! Any ideas on when? There might even be food in it for you." She gave a girly laugh as she asked. The answer was yes. Yes, she was going to try anyways. I raised a brow at her, she was still totally ignoring me so I just rolled my eyes and looked forward at the other guys. They were all straight faced as they chatted quietly amongst each other.

"Is next weekend alright for you guys?" Jake asked. Great. Now I was stuck between my sister and a guy flirting _and_ a super PDA couple.

"Thats great! I'll look forward to seeing you then, Jake." Nina was still doing the girly/innocent thing. No one else saw her inner evil side, except Leah anyways. Mine was on full display while hers just slipped out between a grin and a compliment. Maybe Leah wasn't busy? I looked around Jared to see her sitting on a cement bench with Seth. Perfect! I stood quickly and dusted my ass and front off.

"Oh hey, where you goin' Ali?" Jake asked sounding worried as he stood as well. I paused for only a second to process he was standing, then bent down to pack up my food.

"No where." I replied with a small smile as I patted his shoulder and walked past him. My sister flirting was just too awkward for me, plus I knew she'd rather I wasn't around for her guy stuff. She always claimed sisters before friends but would seriously rather I stayed out of her love life. After one too many awkward third wheeling moments, I totally agreed.

"Hey..." I felt someone take my hand from behind me and whirled around to find an awkward looking Jake. Well he was more unsure than awkward. I think his size just had me thinking of awkward all the time. Seriously though the man was 6"7' and I'm only like 5 feet and some change, he was hulking _mass._

"Hi Jake." I raised a brow as he looked confused then looked at the ground. I looked behind him to see his entire friend group and Kim looking at us. Okay, now its definitely awkward. Nina looked only a bit annoyed which made me feel bad. I didn't really know what to do in this situation, no one she ever flirted with glanced at me. I was the sulky quiet one that wasn't interested in chit-chat.

"Why'd you go?" He looked up from the grass to ask me, looking more sure.

"I wanted to go hang with Leah, you guys had your thing going and all." I shrugged awkwardly as I started to try and slid my hand out of his.

"Oh! Well alrighty. I'll be over here if you need anything." He grinned and jerked back towards the tree with his other hand. He seemed to have totally forgotten he was just standing there holding my hand. I nodded slowly and roughly pulled my hand away this time not trying to be nice, continuing to walk away. He was more awkward than I remembered him from last year but I didn't really talk to him then either so who knows? Maybe this was just Jake. Touchy-feely, loud, big...Jake.

"BOO!" I snuck up behind Seth and yelled that into his ear. As soon as he let out a girly shriek I started to giggle uncontrollably.

"Al..ice." Leah tried to scold me but seemed to be laughing herself.

"SERIOUSLY?" Seth glared and smacked my shoulder, it just made me laugh harder as I fell to my knees and held onto the bench.

"I-I'm sorry. I just-just couldn't stop myself." I had tears rolling as I half-assed my apology, it was hard to get words out.

"I'm sorry, Seth. Y-you just had such a _girly_ scream. You squealed." He sat back down and ignored both of us as Leah put her head on my shoulder, still shaking. I nodded at her words as the laughter stopped and we calmed ourselves. Leah scooted over, leaving me room to sit. They'd basically switched sides, we were now facing the tree I'd just left.

"Why are Sam's lackey's sitting with Nina?" We were pretty quiet for the first few minutes until Leah whispered it. I glanced up to see the guys were still there but Jake kept glancing away from Nina.

"Who knows? I picked Jake up some how and now Nina's hitting on the guy for his mechanic skills." I shrugged as I finished off the last of my carrots.

"Oh yeah. Your mom's car heater isn't working still." Seth remembered as Leah made a 'aah' sound of understanding. I nodded.

"Damn. She'll do anything to skip paying for stuff." Leah commented as I snorted at that.

"Her hearts in a good place. Mom's just had like 0 time to go to the mechanics since she got the 12 hour shift at the gas station. Hell, for all we know shes actually interested in the hulk." I added. Leah stared at the group for a second more before nodding.

"He has grown a lot, hasn't he?" She sounded a little impressed as I nodded back. He had. We said goodbye as the bell rang and headed inside. Seth had some after school thing so Leah was going to wait for him. This left just Nina and I to walk home, it was still cloudy but not nearly as damp as it had been.

"How'd the Jake thing go?" I asked as we started down the side of the road.

"I don't even know to be honest. I mean hes pretty cute and all but he was totally distracted." She sighed.

"Well if you really like him and hes into you, you'll get him." I patted her on the back.

"I know, just haven't really gone after anyone since Mike." She nodded.

"It'll be fine. I can't see Jake pulling that crap." I understood, she was worried.

Mike was some ass from Forks high school she'd met. He was a blonde, blue eyed, baby face. The baby face thing was totally her type but the guy was taken with a new girl that'd come in sometime a year or two ago. Nina was in love with the guy until he just stopped talking to her. He was friendly now, like a year later, but she'd pretty much said fuck it and kicked him to the curb after he didn't respond for two months.

"I hope not." She sounded a tad bit worried but in general alright again. We went inside the house and pretty much went our separate ways only to meet mom for dinner.

"Hey girls." She walked in pale and looking ragged. Nina had made a pasta dinner while I'd set the table. Dad had been full Quileute while our mom wasn't, it left Nina and I a little paler than most but also left mom a bit of an outsider at times. I watched as she just kinda melted into the chair and starting eating, her brown curly hair was even a little wilty looking.

"So how was the great Mona Ever's day?" Nina asked with some amount of excitement as she sat down on her other side. Her phone buzzed, she looked and started to smile. It led me to believe she was talking to Jake again. I was pretty sure they'd exchanged numbers.

"It was fine, baby. How was your guy's day?" Mom just sort of smiled at her and kissed her hand softly, looking between us.

"Meh." I shrugged.

"Why just meh, honey?" She focused on me for a second as I shrugged again. Just was.

"I met a boy!" Nina clapped her hands together as I nodded towards her. Lets talk about that.

"Oh yeah?" She grinned and looked between us. I nodded slowly and took a bite of food.

"Is he cute?" She looked at Nina who nodded vigorously.

"Is he actually?" Mom looked back at me where I shrugged again.

"Hes like an ex baby face, you know...her type?" I waved the fork around at Nina's side of the table who rolled her eyes at me. Mom let out a giggle and nodded. Honestly I tried to not look at him as cute or anything else since Nina was interested. I didn't really want to deal with it all.

"Alright. Look out for your sister, Alice." She nodded and stood, plate now empty. She was going to pass out for the rest of tomorrow since it was one of her only days off.

"Night mom." We chorused as she waved and went down the hall to her bedroom. She turned the office into her room, it was next to the front door while ours were upstairs.

* * *

"Oh hey, Jake." I didn't see Jake til he came over after school the next Friday. He seemed excited if not a little tired, he'd kinda been missing a bunch of school...like the entire week.

"Hey Als." He went for a hug that I awkwardly returned with a pat or two. Hes...hes not wearing a shirt. Why? Why isn't he wearing a shirt?

"Another nickname." I mumbled it and felt him nod. I didn't think he'd really hear me over Nina but apparently he did.

"Oh! Hi Jacob!" Nina greeted sounding excited from behind me. He squeezed a little while I continued to awkwardly pat when Nina came up. This guy was warm for no shirt, I'm almost impressed.

"Hey." He pulled back. She'd gone around me while I stepped back, she looked like she was waiting for a hug but it never really came. He gave her a half wave and turned towards the car with his hands in his pockets.

"So this is the car?" He looked back at me as I nodded.

"It is." I spoke quietly thinking Nina would jump in but she just kinda stood there next to me, playing with her hands. I frowned at that and decided I was cock blocking her.

"I'm going to head inside, have fun with your free labor." I grinned at Nina as she turned to face me. She mouthed a thank you, I nodded in return and went inside to watch TV.

The living room window faced the car which gave me, the just a little over-protective sister, a view at the two. Mom wasn't home at the moment, she was spending some time with Leah's mom or something. She was grown woman, she knew where she was and how to call the house phone...sadly she didn't attribute these ideas towards Nina or I. We had to text her every time we left or arrived somewhere at night.

It didn't take long before the door opened and someone walked in. I turned around to see who it was and saw Jake come around the corner. He had a rag in his hand covered in grease and he still looked kinda tired. He leaned on the frame with his arms crossed, watching me watch him. He seemed to just be...watching. Like I was a TV show or something, he'd look at my hair then my eyes then nose and down the face he went then back up.

"Need something?" I cleared my throat and looked back towards the window to see if Nina was just standing outside.

"You've been keeping an eye on us through the window?" He asked as I looked back.

"...Maybe." I tried to keep the grin off my face but it wasn't happening. He laughed softly and shook his head.

"Can't blame you. If it were my sister out there with a guy I'd be out there schooling him." He shrugged as I laughed at that.

"Well we both know she likes you." I added neutrally, trying to gauge his expression.

"Really?" He paused for a second and frowned. That didn't look good.

"Well yeah." I stood up and walked a little closer trying to be discreet. She'd get mad if she saw me about to interrogate him.

"Thats...wow." He scoffed and sighed, looking down at the floor. I watched him for a while as he seemed to shake it off.

"Hey Jacob...Can I ask you a question?" I posed it again this time looking at his ridiculously sculpted chest.

"You can just call me, Jake or whatever you want, Ali." He looked up. I raised a brow, he was bound and determined I'd call him Jake I guess.

"Well I guess its two things...One, are you okay? You looked really tired." I frowned as I took in his expression.

"I'm just tired. Had an argument with an old friend/ex. Shes...leaving to be with her new husband. Forever. It didn't really sit well with my values but it was her choice so I've just, let her go." He ran a hand through his hair and frowned at me.

"Well you're a cutie, so I think you'll be okay." I grinned as I nodded, it was understandable. He grinned at that.

"Thanks, beautiful. Your other question?" He nudged me gently, still grinning.

"Well...where the hell is your _shirt_? And are you absolutely sure you're _not_ using steroids?" I asked incredulously motioning to his exposed chest. He paused for a second before he let out a bout of deep, booming laughter. It was loud as hell. Like Santa Claus's...or Yeti's. Nina's head popped in through the door, she looked curious.

"Whats all the laughter about?" She closed the door behind her and stood next to Jake as he finished laughing. She looked at me and I shrugged, he was just weird that way I guess.

"Ah nothin'. Your sisters hilarious." She looked at him and he shook his head as he wiped tears away.

"I guess she can be. Did you find the bathroom alright?" She shrugged and turned to him fully now.

"Yeah, all good. I'll head back out and get crackin'." Smiling she put a hand on his lower arm as he nodded. He turned almost immediately and started to walk away, going back out the door and left it open behind himself. She looked back at me and crossed her arms, frowning.

"Hey! I didn't do anything. He just started talking to me." I put my hand up in surrender and backed away.

"Fine. I'm going to see if he'll stay for dinner." She narrowed her eyes but slowly nodded.

"Kay. I'll talk to mom when she gets back." I gave her a thumbs up and sank back into the couch's cushions. I heard the door close behind her and the quiet ensued. He didn't stay. Said he had to go and he'd be back around some time soon. She was a little upset he'd left in a rush but mom's heating worked so all in all, it was a job well done.


	3. Chapter 3

_**WOOOOO. MY BAD GUYS. I PICKED THE WRRRROOONG DOCUMENT TO POST X) SHOUT OUT TO XxMoonlitShadowxX FOR TELLING ME! (WOULD NOT HAVE KNOWN TILL WAY LATER.)**_

 _ **XxMoonlitShadowxX : yes, she is incredibly uninterested in that copy! Bad writer is bad for choosing wrong doc! x...x**_

* * *

Things went by slowly after Jake disappeared. Mom was working, Nina and I went to school and came home. That was it. For the whole week. I'd spent most of it bouncing between my mother and my sister. We were worried she'd have another cold that'd head for her lungs because Leah was coughing a few days ago so she was under close supervision for now. Though I had started hanging around a guy in my tribe history class, I think his name was Adam sea something. He was nice enough, not nearly as big as Jake and his crew but he was friendly enough to deal with me nodding and barely talking.

I heard a click a few days later, it was close to midnight when I was reading in my room. Jake hadn't been at school and he'd kinda dropped out of the texting world with Nina, for some reason I'd been thinking about that a lot. This was one of those moments where my mind drifted and it went in his direction.

She was close to going to his house and banging on the door, I'd told her to wait. He might have just been sick, they weren't quite dating yet so it'd be weird for her to just bang on his front door. She agreed eventually. I think I was just worried she'd get hurt again, honestly. Well...no. I wasn't being totally honest with myself. He'd created a lasting effect on me with his freakish hugeness, laughter. and the fact he seemed to have created a posse of his own in a year. Can't tag a girl for having attraction to some kind of power. Right? Right.

I looked out the window as my mind wandered to old times. I'd snuck out of my room before to go hang with some old friends I didn't talk to anymore, mom caught me. Honestly I didn't even remember their names, they were drinking friends that I'd hang out with at bonfires or tribe events. I knew there was another one at the end of the month I'd probably go to with Nina. Maybe I'd see them then.

There was another click, my light was on and my curtains were open. I couldn't see any branches hitting the glass so I wasn't sure why I was hearing a clicking noise. I stood and moved around the room trying to see if it'd come from one of the electronics. It was quiet. I sat back down on the bed. There was another click. Was I going mad?

"Okay what the hell?" I whispered to myself and stood again. It sounded like something hitting glass, I went to the window and opened it. It didn't feel windy, the tree wasn't shaking. What the fuck was it?

"Alice." I jumped at the sound of my name from the dark and hit my head on the window

"AH!" I hissed and felt for a bump or blood or a cut or something at the top of my head

"Oh shit. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." I froze as I heard the voice again

"Whose there?" I spoke with more confidence than I felt out to the darkness. It was masculine but deep, didn't sound like a teenager and I couldn't remember any adults I knew well enough to come to my house at midnight. The tree began to shake, it wasn't the same kind of shakes the wind caused. I stared at it in confusion for a second before I saw a hand in the dark. Holy fuck, someone's climbing it

I slammed the window shut and locked it, stepping back from it until I hit my bed. I didn't want them _that_ close, I just wanted to know who they were. My heart was racing, I was kinda terrified but also a little excited, which was weird for most people. I was a little bit of an adrenaline junkie, it was why I snuck out in the before times. My friends were potheads and heavy drinkers, it led to a lot of laughter but not much stimulating conversation.

A face appeared in the window it was a little too dark for me to see clearly, I'd grabbed a high heel off the floor before I realized who it was. What in the fuck was _Jacob_ doing here? I lowered the shoe from close to my face and took half a step closer as he knocked on the glass

"What? What are you _doing_?" I asked as I leaned down and looked at him. He frowned and shrugged

"Can you just open the window? I-I won't go into your room I'll sit on the window frame its just really hard to hold on out here." He spoke quietly but I could still hear him

"Fine but I'm keeping the shoe." I thought about it for a second before nodding slowly. He nodded in return and I unlocked the window, sliding it up to give him room. I stepped all the way back to my bed again and watched as Jake some how wedge himself through a narrow opening and fall onto my floor.

"Are you alright? Can I see it?" He asked awkwardly as he as just kinda sat there. I paused before I remembered that I'd hit my head. I shrugged, sure. I walked over and turned my back.

"Here?" He asked as his fingers went over gently it like water drifting down a wall. Just barely touching but stuck in the area.

"Mhm." I nodded.

"Well no bump but its swollen. Sorry, Als." He sounded a little down trodden as I dismissed it.

"Eh. No blood, no foul." I said with a smile. I kinda just wanted to see him smile again. A lip tilted up as his hand fell, barely touching my arm, but that was about it. No smile just yet.

"Sorry. I just...I needed someone to talk too." He muttered it as he quickly righted himself and sat back down on the window sill like he'd promised.

"And your first thought was 'I should go see Alice at midnight'?" I asked incredulously as he groaned and put his head in his hands. It was kinda sweet he'd decided to come visit...but also kinda creepy. Maybe it'd have been more normal if he had simply waited till morning. I sighed and looked at him.

This was the first time I really paid attention to what he actually looked like. He was wearing a wife-beater and jeans but no shoes? His feet were dirty and his arms were scratched up but looked like they were close to healing. It seemed like he'd only have scars. He was shaking his head as he stared at the floor.

"A-are you okay?" I didn't want to get too close and I wasn't letting go of the stacked heel but he was worrying me. Jake was usually happy and cheerful but now he looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"No. But yes. I shouldn't have let her go but I didn't want her anymore." He whispered this. It sent a cold chill down my spine.

"What?" I asked quietly as I watched him go through some kind of grieving. He looked up at me and just sort of watched. It was like the living room all over again but now I was in shorts and a tank brandishing a heel as a weapon. This was just so bizarre.

"I'm sorry. Remember the friend before? The one who was leaving?" He frowned at me as I nodded.

"She just upset me was all. She came back all...new to just throw it in my face. Then she got mad when I told her Imprinted." He was so damn cryptic. I crossed my arms and leaned on my bed, watching him gather his thoughts.

"And? Is she staying? Going?" I waved the shoe hand for him to continue. Imprint stuck out as funny but I passed it to have him get everything out.

"You're actually keeping that shoe. I can see how its as good as a knife, but, can you even walk on that?" He snorted at my shoe. I looked at it for a second, it was a 7 inch black heel. It was classy as far as my shoes go.

"Yes. Now about your ladyfriend?" I rolled my eyes at him. He smiled at that and shrugged.

"I don't know what else to say. She just upset me and I needed to talk to you to remind myself." He explained as I sighed. It gave me some warmth in all honesty. It gave us a connection past my sister having a crush on the big guy.

"Well are you still in love with her?" I asked, the idea kind of bothered me but I blamed it on the fact it'd bother Nina.

"No. I don't think I ever was. Maybe with the _idea_ of her but...no." He shook his head and grinned. I stared at him for a second, he seemed to happy go lucky again.

"Uh...alright. Good for you then, Jake." I nodded at him as my phone buzzed on my dresser, shaking the nail polish bottles and dotting tools. We both looked at it as the screen flashed with the message. I couldn't see who it was from here.

"...Whose Adam?" Jake asked this curiously before he looked back at me.

"Wait you can read the message from there?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Who is he?" He nodded and looked back at it. This time he sounded a little annoyed.

"Nobody." I shrugged. He looked at me and picked up the phone.

"Jake!" I watched and felt my mouth drop open, what the hell? First he climbs through my window and now hes reading my texts! I leapt for the phone as he held it out of my reach.

"Hey if its nobody, why do you care if I read the message?" He defended sounding annoyed as he read through the conversation anyways.

"Because its my personal conversations!" I thought about hitting him then remembered what it was like when I tried to elbow him, no thanks.

"Oooh, hes trying to flirt. Thats cute. Got yourself a boyfriend while I was gone?" He jeered.

"Hes not flirting and no, Jake." I scoffed as he scrolled, asshole. Jake looked back at me like he didn't believe a word I'd said.

"Oh yeah? _Alice, a name of nobility. You must be a princess._ God thats cheesy." Jake mimicked it in a high pitched voice.

"Okay, fine. He was flirting. He was sweet about it though." I cringed, it was corny but it was sweet.

"Bullshit. I could be more sweet with my hands tied behind my back." He made a sound of angry disgust and dropped the phone into my hands but then turned his words more...tensiony with a wink.

"Seriously doubt it." I cleared my throat and looked down at the red carpet on the floor. I felt a hand come down next to me on the dresser and looked up.

"Alice...your eyes tell me a dozen stories about your life." He stared into them, smiling.

"My eyes?" It came out as a whisper while they jumped back and forth between his lips and his own eyes. His hand came up, twirling a brown curl around his pointer.

"Mhm. They're warm and full of life but also quiet sometimes. I see it when you're daydreaming in class." He nodded, kissing the spot between my eyebrows that were hideously uneven right now. I went quiet, processing what just happened as he sat back down on the window sill, looking around my room.

"Why did you never text me? I waited like forever for just a hey or a how are you." He looked at me as he sat back down on the window sill.

"Uh, how about the fact that you never gave me your number?" I was exasperated now. That gave me a fuzzy feeling as well. He was waiting on just a message from me. The thought was odd and a little foreign, I hadn't had any guys with crushes or interested in me in a romantic sense at all in years.

"I gave it to Nina and told her to give it to you when I had to run last week." He scoffed and crossed his arms.

"Do you really expect her to give her sister a guy she like's number? Thats so backwards. I wouldn't text you anyways. " I shook my head at his logic. I was getting really tired, it had to have been 1 by now. It gave me a bit of a reality check that she did like him.

"What! Why? She doesn't like me, Ali. You should be texting me til your heart's content." He detested.

"My heart is content, goof." I challenged with a small smile.

"Well when I saw your heart I meant mine, Als." He dismissed me, grinning. I loved the sight of it. For some reason it had me all warm.

"Also! Yes she does. I had to hold her back from breaking down your front door when you disappeared into no where." I waved my shoe in the direction I thought he house was in, he looked a little downtrodden.

"Damn. I thought we moved past that. I mean she literally said "Its fine, I understand." Why do chicks say things they don't actually mean?" He added with air quotes as I face-palmed. Nina, what have you done?

"That doesn't mean she doesn't like you anymore, stupid." I scolded him.

"Plus everyone lies. Like your dad when he told you that you didn't have to wear shoes." I motioned to his blackened feet.

"That was all me, had to attend to a leadership switch. It was kinda like the barefoot Olympics. " He grinned as he wiggled his toes. I giggled then froze as I heard a door open. I swiveled around to look at him, bug eyed. There were footsteps coming across the floor. Holy fuck. She was up. There was no way I could explain this, she'd totally rat me out to mom.

"UNDER THE BED. UNDER UNDER UNDER." I hissed and attempted to drag him over, he moved faster than I did and slide under with some grace. I hopped on top and held my book up to my face right as I heard a soft knock on the door.

"Come in." I hoped to god I sounded calm. The door creaked open softly and Nina's face peeked in. I sat on the edge, with my feet hanging over in front of Jake. She looked around the room, and looked back at me with suspicion.

"Reading, huh?" She walked in completely and crossed her arms.

"Yup, can I help you?" I nodded and let the sass fly. I was hoping to just annoy her into leaving.

"Uh huh...and that requires a shoe?" Her eyes drifted to the shoe I forgot I still had in my hand. I sat it down on the bed.

"Well we both know I like trying them on." I grinned at her. Her expression didn't change.

"Alice...are you high again? Be honest." She frowned at me, looking more worried than anything.

"No. You know I don't hang with Max unless its a bonfire night." I stared at her a second before snorting. She nodded, the frown wasn't as prominent.

"You were watching porn again..." She shook her head and sighed as she opened the door. I felt the blood rush start to fill my chest and neck.

"No!" I shook my head. She rolled her eyes. Oh my god. This was the worst night.

"Next time, use head phones. Have a good night." She dictated and closed the door behind her. We were silent for around 10 minutes until I figured she'd put in earbuds and was listening to music. I started to feel the bed shake when I rolled over and looked under the side. Jake was snickering as quietly as he could.

"Shut up." I glared as he just started to laugh harder. He started to army style crawl out from under my bed so I sat up, cross-legged on the mattress. He sat down next to me, causing me to start to roll towards him. He wrapped a hand around my forearm and moved me back to my original spot. I sighed and allowed it. He felt warm and nice right now, the situation still had me laughing.

"Hey. Look I'm sorry I just kinda barged in here. I don't know what I was thinking. Just missed ya, Als." He turned towards me and and gently elbowed me. I sighed and looked over at him. He looked much older these days, worn down even. I think it might have been the fact he had short hair now.

"Well, feel better?" I asked halfheartedly.

"Definitely!" He grinned and nodded vigorously, hugging me to him. It sort of dragged me across his lap and squeezed me like a carnivorous snake. The force pushed the air out of me causing a "eeee" noise in the back of my throat.

"Sorry." He apologized and relaxed a little as I clumsily patted his arm.

"Eh. Didn't need air anyways." I dismissed it as I was released and sat back up on my own. He grinned and went over to the window, I watched with fascination as he shoved himself through it again to hang on the outside. It was like witnessing a cat shove its head through a crack in the wall.

"Hey Ali." He called me over so I shuffled tiredly over.

"What now?" I questioned.

"Watch this." He grinned and I watched as he just...let go. To free fall two stories. HOLY CRAP HES GONNA DIE.

"Jake!" I tried to grab his hand before he fell and felt the panic hit me as he fell out of my grasp...to land gracefully on the grass. I put my hand over my heart as I leaned limply over the window sill. My heart was pounding.

"Don't worry, beautiful. I'm great at this stuff. Always land on my feet." He called from the yard.

"Just. Go." I gave him the finger for the scare he just gave me and heard him laugh. Apparently he can see in the dark too. Great.

"See ya tomorrow!" I could hear feet running off and then the sound of leaves crunching and nothing. I hung there for a while longer trying to let the adrenaline run it's course when I heard a wolf howl nearby. I froze as it processed. Not today, death.

Time to close the window! I slid out quickly and shut it, locking it and pulling the curtains closed. As far as wild animals went, wolves were on the bottom of the list of animals I wanted to run into. Bunnies were probably the first if I was being honest.


	4. Chapter 4

_**XxMoonlitShadowxX : Here we go! I changed up the last chapter, actually fixed it with the right version and all that jazz. Hope it still carries the same beat as before though x)**_

* * *

"Nina?" She'd been quiet and on her phone all morning. I was pretty sure she'd been texting Jake a _lot_ lately. It was worrying me for the sole fact that the last time him and I talked, he told me he wasn't interested in her...or at least it seemed like he didn't. I mean what kind of guy does like a girl then just about hits on her sister?

"Yeah?" She looked up with one brow raised.

"Do you really like Jake?" I bit my lip as I waited for her answer. She frowned for a second then sighed and nodded.

"I do. He just has this really fun addictive personality, he makes me laugh. You know? I mean I know thats not generally your thing but you have to admit he's made an impression on you." Damn. She really liked him. I frowned as she slowed her raving over the guy.

"What? Whats that look about?" She narrowed her eyes at me, motioning to my face. I shrugged.

"Nooo. You know something...did he talk to you about who he likes?" She asked nervously as I gave her the 'sorta' hand sign. W stopped walking as she turned to me.

"Alice! Just tell me." She grabbed my shoulders as she tried to shake an answer out of me.

"He didn't outright say he wasn't interested, he just said that you and him talked and you "understood"." I rephrased with air quotes. She nodded.

"Yeah. I said that. He kept talking about this girl he'd met and that the tribe and his father expected him to marry her at some point." She explained.

"So you just said it was fine?" I asked incredulously.

"Well yeah. He said he had no choice it was a done deal but he was happy about it. I want to see him happy anyways." I watched as she seemed to just shrug it off.

"That sounds like bullshit to me." I muttered as we got closer to school.

"I don't know, he said he was going to talk to her soon." She added like that made it more likely.

"If you're fine, then I'm fine." I sighed and shrugged again as we split ways and I headed towards my locker to grab all my stuff.

"Hey." I closed my locker and smiled over at Adam.

"Hey you." I greeted as we turned and started walking to history. Adam was nice in a way, he was kinda geeky, a little corny, heavy on the puns, but he was alright with me being quiet. He was a full blooded Quileute and it showed from his brown eyes to short hair. He didn't come from any of the major lines that ran the council like Jake b

"Did you get my text last night? You kinda dropped off, I figured you just went to bed but sometimes my phone fritzes out." He shrugged, his hand in his jean pocket. I snorted and nodded.

"No I got your text, just totally forgot to respond. I sort of just passed out." I shrugged, looking at him.

"Should have guessed. Thats like the third time." He grinned, showing a row of pearly white teeth under the Russet lips. Yeaaah. I was just awful at texting back in general but it sounded like a shit excuse if I just told him I got distracted.

"Sorry." I apologized, he shook his head as he held open the classroom door for me. For once I was early to class. Nina would be proud...I'll text her.

"Who you texting?" Adam asked curiously.

"Nina, she swears I'll never get to class early and here we are!" I spoke excitedly. I finished texting her and took a picture of the classroom's clock.

"We showed her, huh?" Adam laughed at that. I nodded in agreement. We had. Time ticked by and class was a few minutes away from starting when I was getting a call. I pressed the green button and answered the unknown number.

"Hello?" I waited.

"Alice. Where are you? I've been waiting at your locker for frickin ever. We're going to be _late_!" Jakes voice thundered through the phone as I paused for a second.

"Uh..I'm already in class, man." I answered plainly. I heard a low growl then a click, shrugging I stuffed the phone into my back pocket. I was wearing jeans for once but I'd paired it with a nice flowery top. It felt nice and pretty.

"Who was _that_?" Adam queried sounding a little impressed. I guessed it was at the fact that he could probably hear every word from how loud Jake was. I opened my mouth to tell him when Jake came busting through the door. I just pointed at him. Adam ah'd and went quiet next to me as Jake passed by. I looked away from him and focused on the lesson plan on the board. This was probably one of my _worst_ classes.

"Als." I could hear Jake but at his tone and the stunt he pulled last night...I was ignoring him.

"Where do you want to go for lunch?" Adam asked as we walked, I shrugged. I didn't care. I was surprised Adam hadn't heard the huge guy behind us but maybe it was just me?

"Ali." I sighed as Jake continued, trying to walk faster and away from him. Adam kept up the pace though honestly I think this was just how he normally walked. He wasn't nearly as tall as Jake but he was 6 feet at least which made me speed walk to keep up normally.

"Where ever we do go, I'll just text Nina." I added to my shrug. Adam nodded at that.

"Alice." Adam glanced over at me as Jake continued, louder now. I guess he'd heard him that time then. I shook my head, I was still ignoring him. He shrugged, Adam was chill like that.

"I'm probably going to start playing basketball again." Adam awkwardly made conversation.

"You could try out for the team, you'd probably make it." I mused.

"Doubt it." Adam snorted. I opened my mouth to disagree.

"ALICE EVERS" Jake bellowed behind us making me jump. His yell was like his laugh, loud and deep. It bounced off the lockers and shook my eardrums.

"Jake!" I admonished and spun around to hit him in the stomach with my history book. It bounced off like it was nothing, I don't think he even felt it. Stupid abs.

"Hey. It was out of desperation." He shrugged completely unashamed with his actions as he grinned, seemed like he was proud of himself now.

"Jacob Black." He turned to Adam with a hand posed to shake his.

"Adam Undersea." I face-palmed as Adam slowly shook it.

"And I'm Alice. Can we go now or do you two want to stare into each other's eyes some more." They sort of stared at each other for a few minutes before I introduced myself to get a move on.

"Awe. You jelly, Als?" Jake turned and grinned at that, slinging an arm over my shoulder. Good god. It weighs a _ton_.

"Don't even try. You're still in trouble, Jacob." I huffed and shimmied my way out from under it as he pouted.

"Again, I think you'd totally make on the school team." I turned back to Adam to continue our conversation as we left the building, going outside. I guess we were eating outside. I felt awkward almost, walking with both Adam and Jake it was like I felt obligated to include Adam from Jake's ability to both swarm around people _and_ push out others. I was surprised the big guy hadn't jumped into the conversation yet.

"Maybe. I dunno, Alice. Oh hey. Theres Nina. Did you already message her?" He looked back at me then pointed at my sister. I shook my head.

"Must be that telepathic twin thing." Adam sighed as I waved over at her. She turned and waved back, walking over from the group of girls she'd been talking too.

"Hey Jacob. You look nice today." Nina greeted quietly. She smiled at him, still girly but more reserved now. I looked back at him, halfway expecting him to give her a hug or at least return the compliment.

"Hey. Thanks." He gave her a nod. A _nod._ For goodness sake, that was crap.

"Well how was your class?" Frowning I looked back at Nina.

"It's trig. Always difficult." She shrugged.

"Hey, Ja- " I turned to ask if he was good at it to find there was no Jake. Damn.

"Where'd he go?" I looked back at Nina, confused. She pointed to the side as she continued her conversation with Adam. I looked over to see an animated Jake.

He was talking to his fellow giants but he looked angry as he kicked the ground and shook a fist. I could just make out his expression, he was definitely angry. I think this is the first time I'd ever seen an angry Jake, he was pretty pleasant around me. Maybe in distress but he'd never been full out angry. I watched as he started to shake and one of the guys put a hand on his shoulder, leaning close to his face to talk then point at me. Jake and co then proceeded to all look at me. Oh. OH. Turn around, Alice! You're being creepy.

"Eh. It was a weird dream." As I turned back around to look at Nina and Adam, they were apparently discussing dreams. I couldn't remember mine.

"Mine was kinda weird too. I don't remember most of it but I know half way through this bald man popped up asking me which kind of cheese I wanted." Nina recalled.

"And what kind did you want?" I grinned and waited.

"Probably cheddar." She shrugged and started to look behind me.

"What are we talking about?" I turned right in time to have an arm put over me. I sighed as I tried to look to the right to find a grey clothed shoulder. Oh good. Jake was back.

"Cheese." Nina answered with a smile. I sighed yet again as I attempted to move from under the arm, it was lighter now but still annoying as hell.

"Ah. Well on that note my favourite is provolone and I've got to run. EMBRY. You know what to do? Kay, just checking." I jumped as Jake yelled with a commanding voice into my ear, forcing vibrations through my head. He looked down as I did and squeezed my shoulders gently.

"Sorry beautiful. I forget you're skittish sometimes." He apologized then leaned down to my ear.

" Its **Alice.** Just Alice." I corrected trying to not hurt Nina with his stupid nicknames and arm stuff as I huffed with annoyance. I tried harder to wriggle out from under his gigantic arm but found it'd just tightened.

"Now come on. You're walking with me so we can talk." He sort of just shifted me away from Nina and Adam as he turned to start leaving, ignoring my assertions. I wasn't so sure I liked this new Jake.

"What? When was this decided?" I was completely and utter flabbergasted as he didn't respond. Jake had begun to act a lot more confident and commanding since he came from from god know's where.

"Jake. Jacob. JACOB BLACK." I tried to get his attention but he continued to mutter until I finally just screamed his name. After that point he just raised a brow and looked at me.

"What?" He deadpanned.

"What?" I motioned to the forest we were now in. Green moss and brown bark surrounded us on all sides but I could hear the waves breaking against La Push beach's sand. I'd always loved that beach but found it too cold and wet for any real fun.

"Kinda romantic right? I mean we could always do this on the beach. God thats corny to ask but I mean I know you like the beach a lot." He snorted awkwardly and shook his head.

"How?"I raised a brow at that and crossed my arms. This reeked of a confession. I didn't entertain the thought from amusement, it was more out of worry for the consequences.

"Oh Nina told me." He shrugged, smiling down at me.

"For what purpose exactly?" I frowned at him. Nervous now as I switched legs and relaxed my arms. He sighed and took my hands, I looked down to see his swallow mine like a loaf of bread too large for it's lid, enveloping everything in it's path.

"Alright so I'll just come out and say it, Ali." He nodded to himself at that. I froze for a second too long to try and rip my hands out of his as if some how it would stop the words coming out of his mouth right now.

My "Nnononononono." over lapped with his own words of,

"I wanted you to know that I love you but also that I'm always here. I won't ever let you down―I promise that you can always count on me. Wow, that does sound corny. But you know that, right? That I would never, ever hurt you? Or leave you?" He sort of stared at me for a reaction after. I felt my face droop with bits of disgust and disappointment coloring my features.

"What do you mean, 'love'?" I was giving him a free pass with the question. Begging for him to go 'Oh like a sister.' or even 'Oh like a brother.'

"The kind that just...just sweeps you off your feet. Its passionate and compassionate a-and life changing. The all consuming kind that makes you hurt but in a good way, Ali. Its magic and a blessing." It didn't seem like he'd taken it, much to my chagrin.

"Damn it, Jake. You don't even know what you're _talking_ about." I sighed and motioned exasperatedly to him.

"What kinda reaction is _that?_ How do you know I don't know what I'm talking about? I just described the perfect match made in heaven for anyone but _you,_ apparently. We're soul mates, Alice." He asked incredulously as he motioned to my general area. I almost stomped out of annoyance. I'd had boyfriends but had trouble getting past the L word with them, sex was fine however. I guess I just found it hard to trust men in general though I felt like it stemmed from my mother's own issues.

"Because you're only like 15!" I exclaimed. In like a month I was going to be considered a pedophile at this rate.

"I'm actually 18, Thanks!" He scoffed. WAIT HES _OLDER_ THAN ME? Oh thats messed up.

"Doesn't matter! Mentally, you're a frickin' child." I quickly dismissed that and placed another excuse. Honestly the confession had me thinking about all my past...thinkings. I had to admit I had a partial crush on him but the fact Nina was interested and he had that weird tie to the tribe had me crushing the crush...Adam would be proud of that pun.

" _What?_ You don't even know what I do to protect this tribe. My alpha steps down, puts me in charge. Thats fine! Its my duty. The bloodline dictates it all, whatever. I have 9 people to command and take care of. Their **lives** are in my hands. Oh and oh yeah...But wait! Theres _more_ to this offer. Now they're multiplying. 9 jumped to 11 in a week!" I watched as he started to shake, his voice only matched his face's intensity as he yelled, mocking what seemed to be a commercial.

"Is that what your little gang does? Makes you alpha wolf?" I motioned with my pointer towards his arm. He looked over to see I was mentioning the tat before his face darkened. He seemed to be in deep in this gang thing.

"Alice. Listen to me, its not like that. Everything everyone says about the legends, the history, its all real. Its true, okay? The wolves, the third wife, the cold ones, the imprints, its all _real_." He put his hands on my shoulders and leaned down towards me, he sounded more calm now though annoyed as he gently shook me. I scoffed.

"Well now I don't have to worry its stereoids you're using...I can see its just frickin' CRACK COCAINE." I threw my hands up in the air from exasperation.

"Look I'm just following instincts here. They told me you were interested and ready for this." He motioned between us while I just scoffed and let out a loud sarcastic 'HAH'.

"Oh! Your _INSTINCTS_ told you. GREAT." I gave a loud clap as I practically screamed it.

"Then if you don't believe me, why don't I prove we're meant to be?" He crossed his arms, ignoring my claps and sarcastic laughter.

"And what do you suggest? Are we going to grab some seaweed and see if it maps out our positions when we throw it at a rock?" I asked as jerked my hand in a motion that seemed like I was going, 'Oh pal!'...Okay now I was just being mean. Jacob rolled his eyes and shook his head no.

"A kiss, Ali. Just one and you'll see what I'm talking about." He shrugged with his own arms crossed. I stared at him for a second. He sounded so sure about this that he had me reeling with disbelief. This reservation was an insane asylum apparently.

"Is this a bet? Did you bet your groupies that you could get me to kiss you?" I asked conspiratorially. He sort of stared back at me looking shocked.

"I'd never make a bet over you or anything we do. I can't believe you'd think that of me." He said heatedly with his hands on his hips.

"Well a second ago I was just Alice and now I'm suddenly your true love. Don't you have an arranged marriage to be apart of or something?" I dismissed him with the same waving hand gestures. He stared at me for a second before it seemed to dawn on him what I was talking about.

"Nina ratted me out, huh? Kinda, I guess in human terms it'd be that but its more like a universe arranged it before we were born." He frowned at me and spoke seriously, running a hand through his hair as he watched me.

"Oh my goodness I'm leaving. We both know you don't have genuinely a thing for me, okay? Okay. I'm done with the fun and games. You though. You-you can go have fun with your raves and rants in the woods, Jacob." I waved as I turned to leave when he caught my wrist. I was getting a little frustrated with him as I turned around to come face to face with a Jacob chest. Dude moves fast. Had to give him that at least.

"Not until I've proven it." He leaned down towards me, looking me in the eyes.

"Wha-" He gripped my face gently then pulled me towards him before I could figure out what was happening.

I really only heard our lips meet before I felt it. There was clacking of our teeth and the sound of my surprise melting away but...then it was nice, explosive. It was warm, comfortable, and soft but there was none of the awkward 'where do I put this' or 'how do I move that'. Jake responded to my every action with a reaction that was just as great, I felt like we were supposed to be together. How _else_ did we kiss so great? I pulled away as he leaned his head on mine.

"I've been dying to do that." He whispered and let out a breathy chuckle that rubbed me the wrong way. I frowned at it as the thoughts smacked my logic across the face. He totally just used me for a kiss, normally I wouldn't care but this was my sisters crush. I was at a total, _angry_ , loss. I'd just betrayed my sister because this guy wanted to see how far he could get.

"Oh what the HELL, JAKE?" I jerked my head away from him and flipped him off as I did. WHAT THE SHIT WAS THAT?

"What? What are you freaking out about now? Was that not _perfect_?" I watched his face fall from a high to complete anxiety and distress. _That_ threw me off. I peered at him for a bit.

"What did that kiss mean to you? Or better question, has it changed what _I_ mean to you?" I motioned to myself. He walked up and shook his head as he ran his hand through his hair again.

"Everything. Look, I know we're meant to be. Its comfortable and easy as breathing for me. Wow this is a mess. I figured I'd be way better at this than Sam but nope! Just as crappy." He let out another breathy chuckle as he crossed his arms and looked around.

"Okay, restart. I want to take you out to meet my guys. You'll see what I'm talking about. What do you say?" He nodded to himself then looked back at me like this was a much better plan after he'd already smacked lips with me. I stared, deadpan at him for a few seconds before I shrugged.

"I'll let you know." I decided as I turned around and started to head back the way we came.

"What does that mean? Yes or no or what? Do you even believe me?" Jacob walked with me, sounding distressed again.

"Means to be determined and as of right now, I believe you're good at kissing. Thats about all you've given me evidence for." I decided as I glanced at him.

"Well I mean I could phase but I thought it'd scare you." His eye brows had come together, furrowed in a deep frown. It was like two fluffy caterpillars covering his eyes, the thought made me smile.

"Eh. Whatever. I'll catch you around, Jake." I shrugged as we entered the schools parking lot and picked up speed to get to the doors.

"I'm not letting this go, Als!" Jake yelled back as I ignored him. I'm sure he wouldn't but that didn't mean I wouldn't let it go.


	5. Chapter 5

_**So...At least I'm not dead, right? Sorry for the whole...10 months of nothing? I think it's ten.**_

 _ **But we're up and running again!**_

* * *

Glowering, I watched this asshole sitting on my floor, grinning at me like there was absolutely nothing going on. Of course, he'd be here. Of course!

I tried my best to ignore him, talk to Adam and to Nina but it seemed everywhere I went...he was just...there. The only place I _thought_ was safe was my house and lo' and behold...here he is.

"Hey, Als." He gave me a five finger wave.

"Who let you in?" I huffed as I took him in on the floor, watching a movie with Nina sitting on the couch.

"He wanted to hang after school...so that was me. I let him in." She looked curiously between us, her legs crossed daintily under her. Poor girl. She had no clue that on the floor, was a complete lunatic.

"Out!" I hissed at him, he raised a brow.

"Make me." I glared back into his eyes as he began to smirk and appeared to be getting comfortable, crossing his legs and leaning back into the brown fabric of our sofa. I went to move him with my foot.

"Alice..." Nina started carefully as I almost spat at Jake when I nudged him with my foot.

"Out." I gestured towards the door in a fit of hope that he might actually listen to me.

"I don't think so, Alice. I need answers and so far, Nina's the only one willing to give them to me." He smiled waving a gargantuan hand in her direction as I glared at him even harder, raising my leg up higher than I had before.

"Alice!" Nina's hands wrapped around my frame with force, dragging me back into the kitchen with her.

"Sorry Jake, we'll be just a minute!" She called merrily into the other room, like this was a comedy skit we did for guests.

"You don't know how _crazy_ he is, Nina!" I whispered heatedly in a huff as she let me go.

"What _even_?" She snapped. Her face was dark and just a little irritated as she took me in, crossing her arms over her chest.

"He took me out to the forest yesterday! Told me allll about how we were meant to be because the _universe_ put us together!" I mocked his words from before, not sure if I should even be telling her this or if she'd even believe me. A crack of hurt hit her face and it forced me to realise this really wasn't something that she needed to know. This was hurting her. Stupid Alice.

"So...you're telling me that the whole reason you're being a total _bitch_ to our guest is just because he gave his heart to you? Annnd, you don't want to deal with it?" She looked like she was about to cry as she snapped off on me, scolding me for not taking this guy at face value.

"Seriously? You don't find that the least bit strange?" I checked incredulously with a nod in his direction. He was _sketchy,_ was I the only one who could see that? He disappears for days at a time and no one says a damn thing! Why am I the only one on this whole friggin' reservation that found it just a little weird?

"Yeah, no. Some how that isn't strange at all to me. In fact, pretty sure I got dumped by someone like that just last year." She gritted her teeth with a tear leaking down her cheek. Oh shit.

"Just because he feels like the universe put you two together, doesn't mean hes crazy. It just means hes a romantic at heart, Alice!" She hissed with hurt felt heat behind her words.

"Nina...I'm sorry. It wasn't like you and Mik-" I started to apologise, just now connecting the dots of the similarities between the two situations. Little late, Alice.

"I don't even want to hear it." She glared, holding up a hand.

"No, seriously! He thinks all the legends are tru!" I tried again, explaining just why he was crazy but she seemed to be too emotional to hear it. Turning and leaving to go to the living room while shaking her head. I watched as her entire expression changed after she wiped away her tears and as she sat down next to Jake.

Awkwardly, I exited the kitchen after the movie had started again to sit on the loveseat right under the window facing our driveway. This was just really weird now. Jake knew what was going on, Nina didn't and didn't really want to, and I was just...here. Here to watch her lay her head on his shoulder.

I watched as she did so, it forced the oddest tightening sensation in my chest. I pursed my lips and quickly looked away as I realised he'd noticed me staring. Awkward as always, Alice. Just. Great job, really. Great fuckin' job.

By the second half of the movie, I realised two things really. One, I didn't like seeing Nina with her head on his shoulder. It made my stomach bubble and my chest squeeze together in the oddest feeling. Two, Jake didn't move the shoulder that she'd laid her head on whatsoever but he kept glancing at me. Irritating. It felt like I was full of energy but unable to expel it, like I'd taken two of my mom's fat burning pills again.

I stood up when it felt like I couldn't take them anymore and went towards the kitchen as silently as I could. I ran the water in the sink, rubbing the cold tap water over my face to calm myself down a little. Maybe I was ill. If I was, I seriously needed to keep away from Nina. She'd been doing so well lately.

"You okay?" I jumped, pulling my head out from under the stream of water in a bit of a fright.

"I'm fine!" I breathed as I spun around quickly. First things I noticed were how close Jake was to me and that I was essentially locked in by his arms on either side. It reminded me of when he'd claimed he could flirt better than Adam any day in my bedroom, and I was just too stubborn to tell him he could do it better any day of the week.

"You don't look fine." He raised a brow, taking in my features.

"Stomach just felt sick, chest a little tight. Normal shit." I shrugged awkwardly, trying to avoid touching him. Even though we weren't quite touching, I could still feel the heat coming off of his exposed arms.

"I...don't think thats normal, Ali." He pursed his lips, beginning to look worried. I just shrugged again, not at careful this time.

"Did I cause you too much stress by being here or?" He checked, looking even more worried when I didn't respond verbally.

"No...I just. I don't like it when you're that close to Nina." I huffed, spilling the beans much quicker than I would have liked. Probably would have liked to have just kept those particular beans in their cans, sealed shut, and wrapped in duct tape.

"Why-Oh." His look of concern quickly disappeared, leaving what I was becoming to take as his signature smirk.

"What?" I questioned defensively. I didn't like that look. He knew something I didn't.

"You're _jealous_." He broke into a grin, leaning closer to my height as I crossed my hands over my chest. Jealousy and I just didn't happen. I do _not_ get jealous.

"No!" I scoffed. "I just didn't want you passing on any crazy germs to her. I don't know what you carry to make you think you're a wolf!" I declared warily.

"Awe come on, beautiful. We're just hanging out. All I wanted was a yes out of you." He chuckled, leaning his head down to the level of my ears. I felt his breath drift across my neck and shoulder with a shiver.

"Come on. Just do it." He seemed to almost nuzzle me as he inhaled. All the hair on my arms stood leaving me with a bit of a heart beat that seemed to skip along to the sound of his voice. He pressed his lips to my neck ever so softly, and I just sort of panicked. Like seriously panicked...to the point I drove my knee up into his knads.

"Ah! GOD DAMN, ALICE." He cursed, loudly as he doubled over. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WR- JUST! JESUS!" I pursed my lips together as it dawned on me that he may have been giant but he was just as sensitive in that area as any other guy I've met.

"Alice! What did you do?!" Nina didn't take long to appear, looking worried and concerned over Jake's well-being.

"Kneed him." I admitted gayly. I'd be lying if I didn't admit it was pretty self-gratifying to see him bent over like that because of me after the jealous comment.

"Jake? I'm so sorry. Can I get you anything?" She looked as panicked as I'd felt about 5 minutes ago, rushing towards the freezer as I stood at the sink. She glanced at me and glared,

"Stop _grinning_ , Alice!" Nina scolded, she looked as irritated as ever while she ushered Jake onto a chair. He collapsed onto it, grunting when she held a bag of ice onto his lap. It looked like he was in labour at this point, breathing deep and short breaths.

"Nin-Nina." Jake was vying for her attention breathlessly, and it didn't take much for her to notice him.

"Yes?" She answered his attempts in spades, using both hands now to hold the ice to his crotch. I tried to ignore it, the best I could...because it's just weird to watch my sister hold ice near a crazy guy's dick. That's all.

"Can you not put your hands on my...crotch? Please?" He pleaded with a light voice, lighter than I'd remembered him ever having as a kid. I started snickering at that, pissing Nina off even more so.

"Leave if you're not going to help, Alice!" She ranted, glaring at me as she pointed towards the front door. I raised my hands up in surrender as I nodded, walking past the couple.

"I'm gone." I promised, grabbing my cell phone and heading towards the beach.

 _Hey._ I sent the message to Adam in hopes he'd come chill with me since I didn't really have anyone else to call on for a random hang out thing. A second or so later, my phone buzzed in my hand.

 _Hey yourself._

 _Wanna come down to the beach? Nina kicked me out._ I got a little worried when I typed the invitation out, I was only hoping this didn't seem like a hook-up thing. I mean, Adam was pretty calm with most things. He should be fine.

 _Yeah, sure. Five minutes._

I found my way through the winding walking trails from my house all the way out to the beach, mostly just by the sound of waves crashing. When I got here, I just told him I'd be at the end near the big cliff as I saw down onto driftwood. Awesome. Now just to wait...Okay its getting chilly now. I'm not that smart sometimes, or really ever.

"Alice?" I turned around at the sound of someone shouting my name to find Adam jogging up towards me. He'd actually dressed for the wind chill with a both a windblock, raincoat, _and_ a fuzzy looking jacket underneath. Dude was prepared, had to give him props for that because right now I was shaking from the cold.

"Heya." I yelled back over the sound of water crashing as I waved at him. It didn't take him long to get here, probably thanks to the giant legs that he had.

"So what'd you get booted out for?" He raised a brow with his eyes scanning over my titled torso. Maybe he was noticing my shaking.

"Oh, I kneed Jacob Black in the balls." I shrugged robotically, he stared down at me for a second before bursting into a laughter.

"Holy shit, Alice. Seriously?" He chuckled as he took off his top jacket, moving towards me when he finally unzipped it and shimmed out of the wind-blocker. "Here, I feel bad when you're shaking like a leaf over there."

"I'm fine-"I started when he just tossed the jacket over my face.

"Just take the jacket, Alice." He snorted, still laughing about the fact that I'd kneed Jake I guess. Adam was hard to figure sometimes but I kinda liked it. He was easy to deal with, just rode whatever wave he was on.

"Dick." I teased him as I jumped a little and he laughed again. I didn't take very long to pull it off my nose and slid my arms into it when he'd already sat down next to me. I think I might be supersensitive but I'm pretty sure I can feel the warmth of his leg through the fabric on mine.

"Yeah, yeah. Feel any warmer?" He inquired as he bumped my shoulder with his arm.

"Little bit. You feel any less bulky?" I raised a brow, motioning to his two other jackets.

"Hmmm." He squeezed his pecs, shoulders, and arms as he leaned back to look at them with a grin. "Nah, I think I could grab another two layers." He shook his head, sitting back up next to me when he was done inspecting.

"You're getting kinda built with all those jackets on." I winked at him.

"Oh yeah? Think I'm cute now?" He leaned closer to my face with his eyes darting between my eyes and nose.

"I always said you were cute." I shrugged nonchalantly. I put a hand over my nose, rubbing it a little to see if I had something on it. He kept looking at it making me a little nervous.

"Is that why you keep me around then?" He smirked. I was little taken aback by just how close he was, I didn't realise it until I readjusted and felt his breath drift over my face. He smelled minty, and kinda chocolatey.

"Have you been eating mint chocolate?" I tilted my head with a bit of confusion as I blurted it out.

"Do you like it?" He nodded slowly, watching me with bright brown eyes. "Is it weird?" This time he looked a little worried when I didn't respond at first. I was honestly just sniffing his breath.

"Oh yeah, its great." I shook my head quickly to his question as I realised he was still just sitting as close as he'd like.

"Good, good. So why'd Nina kick you out for kneeing him? And why'd you knee him?" Adam let of a stream of questions from his inquisitive nature. I thought about how close he was for a second, as to whether or not I really cared...nah. It's whatever.

"She didn't like it, thought I was just being a bitch like normal to him." I shrugged as I looked back at the water. "Kneed him because...he just got touchy feely, I don't know."

"...You panic with feelings. Don't you?" I looked back as Adam finally spoke. His eyes were trying to search mine for a glimmer of truth or something somehow.

"Just with giant dudes who spew shit about us being a match made in heaven." I defended quickly with a roll of my eyes.

"He actually said that?" Adam grinned as I nodded. "Wow. What a dumb ass." He shook his head with the same tone he took when I didn't get his Lord of the Ring references. I just moved past it with a shrug. This made me feel a little better, like I wasn't just the only crazy one. A moment of silence passed between us as I watched angry waves hit the beach over and over again.

"You wanna go look for seashells?" He raised a brow at me as I looked back at him.

"Sure!" I nodded quickly, as he stood and gave me a hand getting off my ass.

We made it about halfway through the whole beach before I got my shoes wet and by effect, my feet. After that, Adam offered to carry me but I wasn't so sure the tall lanky boy could carry me the whole time. Plus when guys like him carried me, I felt kinda like a blimp. They struggled so much. I feel so. Fat.

"Dude, don't look now but I'm pretty sure your boyfriend is walking up the beach now." Adam stuck an arm around my shoulders and leaned down, whispering conspiratorially into my ear. I furrowed my brows as I peered at him, he kept motioning back behind us with his head.

I finally glanced for a short second to see that indeed, Jacob Black was stomping where we'd just left.

"Damn." I mumbled more just to myself.


	6. Chapter 6

**Peace-N'-Luv-4601: Thank you!**

* * *

Twice in one day of trying to avoid just one person and twice in one day, I met this single person. Maybe I just have terrible luck. Maybe I just suck at avoiding people, but I don't know his schedule! How am I supposed to avoid him?

"Alice." Jake's booming voice reached my ears, making me freeze for just a hair of a second. I leaned up to Adam's level to talk to him.

"Ignore him." I locked eyes with Adam, and whispered into his ear as though we were just a couple having a romantic stroll.

Adam pursed his lips into a thin line but looked forwards again with his arm still around my shoulders as a second heat source. Thank god he just went with half the shit I did. I mean the only reason I knew him was because I couldn't figure out how to get my locker open and he did. His was right next door to mine.

"Alice!" Now his voice was domineering. Demanding I paid attention to him and what he wanted, issue is, I refused.

"Alice, maybe you should just talk to him." Adam breathed as he leaned down to my height again.

"No!" I hissed, speed walking now. Well, as much as one could when you sunk halfway into the sand with every step.

"Ali. If you don't respond, I'm pretty sure he's going to like run me over, football style." Adam mentioned off-handedly in a hushed voice as he glanced over my head.

"Nonsense, he wouldn't." I waved my hand at his concerns.

"I would!" Jake yelled it despite sounding like he was only 10 feet behind us. I felt blood drain from my face as I realised either he had great hearing, or he was realllly fuckin' close because I could barely hear _myself_ over the waves.

Adam seemed to almost groan but spun us around to wave at Jake with the sea-shellless hand on my shoulder. I gave him a dirty look as he nodded his head in some kinda guy greeting to Jake. I didn't wave under the guise that my hands were full.

"What's up?" Jake raised a brow as he slowed to a stop in front of us. I shrugged, not saying anything.

"Just combing for shells." Adam supplied after an awkward silence of Jake's eyes skipping between mine, Adam's, and Adam's arm. I took him in for a good second when the silence continued. He was still in cut off jean shorts and a hoodie with sleeves that had been ripped off, now I'm just wondering if he's a robot with super hearing.

"Ah I see. Is that what you like to do after kickin' a guy in the gonads? " Jake wondered, smiling with a pinched look as he did so.

"Girl's gotta have her hobbies." I replied with a bit of forced indifference as I shrugged again. Adam snorted at that at least.

"I've got all kinds of those." He nodded, an excited glow about him as he leaned down and picked up a particularly thick piece of driftwood.

"Want to see me rip this in half?" He inquired quickly, nodding towards the wood. I pressed my lips inwards until they probably couldn't be seen as I took him in holding the driftwood hostage between his fingers. This just felt like a bad idea. Erratic. Kinda worried he'd break it then beat Adam and I to death with it...or maybe that was just the paranoia talking.

"In half or lengthwise, because one of those is way easier than the other." Adam recounted, eyeing Jake with the blackened wood in his hands.

"Oh, I'm going to do it lengthwise there, buddy." Jake nodded, looking back at the wood. I watched him with tension building in my back as he moved his thumbs to sit in the center with his fingers steepled on each side. It felt like I blinked as he literally ripped it in half, I held up a hand to block the shower of wet splinters that seemed determined to attack at once.

"Wow. _Wood_ you say I've been shown up, Als?" Adam let out a low whistle as he turned to me with a grin.

"Oh my god. That was terrible." I muttered, as I tried to stop a grin from popping up but eventually returned his for the level of finesse he'd had with this pun.

"So what's up, Jacob?" I turned to face him after noticing a few splinters on Adam's jacket. I began dusting them off as I waited for whatever excuse he'd come up with to be out here.

"Nina wanted me to give this to you, she said you'd probably be out here." He sighed, as I heard some kind of rustling. I looked up to see him pulling out my fluffed raincoat from god knows where. As I took it, I tried to see where the hell he'd had it hidden considering both his pants and his shirt looked like they were painted on him.

"Thanks..." I muttered, bewildered. The silence just seemed to drag. Pretty sure we're just going to stand here until someone says something. I mean, at least I hadn't been beaten to death with driftwood, right? That sounded like a gory death. Gross. I opened my mouth to say something along the lines of 'Good day, crazy sir.'

"Wanna go with us?" Adam questioned, looking mildly interested in the 6'7" guy standing across from us. I closed my mouth slowly, not sure if I really wanted him too or not.

"Sure." He shrugged, looking jolly enough as he bebopped his way right up next to me. I was wondering if he'd get a little bothered with wet socks like I now had but when I looked down, I realised he wasn't wearing any shoes again. What was this kid _on_? Meth?

"Are you absolutely _sure_ you're not on crack?" I pondered outloud and froze. That wasn't really supposed to make it's way out of my brain and mouth. I could feel both Adam and Jake's eyes on me as I stared straight forewards, attempting to not look like a deer caught in the headlights.

"...Pretty sure." Jake answered slowly as he stopped to bend down. I looked back at him quickly, half out of curiosity and half because I was a little worried he'd ninja throw a seashell at my head now. He wouldn't do that would he? Well...I didn't think he'd go ahead and confess his love for me either but here we are.

"You know, theres never a boring moment with you around, Alice." Adam remarked with a bit of a smile as we continued walking.

"I think I'll just go ahead and take that as a compliment." I grinned, glancing at Adam before I looked back behind us for Jake again. I felt like I needed to know where he was at all times, little creepy but I'm just going to go ahead and blame it on the fact that I just watched him rip wood apart with his bare hands.

"You should. He's right, beautiful." Jake mentioned casually as he caught up with us.

"You're always amazing to me." We met eyes for the briefest of seconds but the palms of my hands got a little sweaty regardless. I felt like his eyes were fixed on me, eyes that caught the light like chips of broken glass that were interested in just me...I think I need to leave Nina's romance novels alone.

"Thanks." I mumbled awkwardly, quickly looking away from Jake's side completely.

This just got awkward.

* * *

You know what? When I said it got awkward about an hour ago, I lied. It's officially awkward now. Now that we're all supposed to split our different ways but Jake insisted that he walked me home because now hes having dinner there and apparently this also required that he mediated Adam and I's goodbye.

"Well." Adam began slowly, looking between me and my new father who glowered or coughed loudly as soon as Adam's face got close to mine.

"Well." I pursed my lips and nodded.

"I guess, I'll see you at school?" He raised a brow, leaning down to where my face was. He almost gave me butterflies. Almost. Probably would have if Jake wasn't just standing there...being Jake.

"That'd be nice." I breathed, wondering if he was just going to kiss me or if he just really enjoyed getting all close and personal. Did he always like to get up close? I can't remember.

"Yeah." He murmured with the ghost of a fond smile crossing his face, he got closer and closer and-

"Ahem... _Herrrhem._ " Jacob's throat seemed to steal the show yet again, making me sigh. This is just painful now.

I stepped on my tippy-toes and pecked Adam on the cheek quickly. "Bye." I turned and waved as I went, hopefully going back the right way to my house. For a quick second I wondered why I did that when I wasn't all that into Adam...bad manipulative Alice. Bad.

I could hear grunting as Jake's feet fell in step with mine. I guess we were going back the right way then. Did I peck him just because Jake was standing there? Did I want to test his limits? Test his theory that we were meant to be? That means that no matter what I do, he'd still have to be with me, right? Kinda sounded like prison...or death row.

"Are you just going to keep grunting?" I raised a brow as I stared at the ground, not even bothering to look him in the eye. What was the point, he was clearly fluent in demonstrating his point through his body language.

"Are you just going to keep kissing random guys?" He spat out as I snorted.

"Hardly counts as a kiss." I rolled my eyes, still watching the brown and green leaves crunch with twigs and insects under my feet. What a drama queen.

"Seriously?" Jake exclaimed incredulously as I shrugged. I have to admit, I'm kinda enjoying this reaction he's having. Makes me feel oddly special but not in a painful cheesy way, like for once not _all_ the attention is on Nina.

"Hey, I kiss my mother like that. You don't seem to see _that_ as me making out with her." I scoffed, holding a hand up to him.

"Thats because its your mother!" He proclaimed with impatience.

"Whatever, dude." I shook my head at him once more, thinking the walk would just go back into silence. Instead he seemed to decide that the best plan was to grab my hand and spin me into his arms. My world rearranged as I felt the dizziness set in until I picked out that his lips had been pressed onto mine. Hot melt into cold and I can't say that I didn't enjoy it.

"Alice?" My mother's voice woke me up from whatever day dream I'd been having to figure out that I was really kissing Jacob Black in front of my mother. Great. I yanked back into myself like I'd been burned and met eyes with her. She looked a little curious, kinda amused at my bumbling.

"You kids having fun there?" She smirked, leaning onto the back of her car as all the blood from my extremities rushed up all at once.

"Hi Miss Evers." Jake greeted, friendly enough with a wave.

"Hello, Jacob." The smirk on her face seemed to only grow as I tried to keep the embarrassment from my face and posture. I think I now know where Nina and I get our evil streaks from.


	7. Chapter 7

**_GreenOnBlack: I'm glad you're enjoying this!_**

 ** _CATHARIN COMES FROM MY STORY, FOR THE FIRST REAL TIME._ She is Jasper's mate, same age as him, met him during the civil war. **

* * *

"So, Jacob. What do you when you're not in school?" My mother began asking as we all sat down to one of the most awkward dinners I'd _probably_ have to endure in this household.

"I do a lot of work on cars and I help out my dad." He replied smoothly, scooping up spoonfuls of peas. My eyes darted around from my plate of meatloaf and carrots to Nina's and up to my moms eyes.

"So you do a lot with mechanics and the tribe then?" She was focused, trained to pick up every little twitch of his. Any signal he was lying was a beacon to poke more for her.

"He does, it's pretty impressive." Nina joined in, rooting for him it seemed. It'd really only been a flurry of questions and activities as we walked through the door as Nina had already made dinner. Stupidly responsible Nina, already guessed when she'd be home. I don't even how she had this little ability to just know when people would be coming or going...I kinda hate it.

"Ah." This was the only noise my mother made as she took a bite of meatloaf and chewed it slowly, watching him still. This was probably kinda weird for her, right? I mean the last she heard of a guy was that Nina liked him and boom there I am, macking with Jacob Black in front of our house. Bad, Alice.

"Jake was the one that fixed your heater actually, mom." Nina declared between bites with some insistence.

"I see. Thanks for that, keeps my toes warm now." Our mother's brow raised as she glanced back at my twin then to me, possibly wondering why she'd be the one to try and defend him into her good graces and not me.

"Oh, it was no problem. I enjoyed doing it." Jake shrugged, I watched as he sort of just devoured half of the pan in front of him in a bit of amazement. So he was definitely not normal, perse. But theres plenty of logical reasons why he is the way he is. Why hes so warm, why he eats so much, why he thinks the universe made us for each other...why I'm weirdly interested in knowing why.

I watched conversation continue without my input, going back and forth between Nina, My mother, and Jake. I got a few weird looks until my mother just outright dragged me into it.

"So, Alice. What have you been up too, sweetie?" Her eyebrow raised, like she was waiting for me to come tumbling out with how in love Jacob and I were.

"Trying to stay away from the crazies." I pursed my lips into a thin line with a scathing glance at Jacob who simply rolled his eyes.

"Hard to stay away from them when you're one of them." Nina commented lowly, I looked back at her just in time to see an eye roll.

"Takes one to know one. Doesn't it now, Nina?" I raised a brow, daring her to keep this up. You try to protect your sister and you just eat shit for it.

"Not particularly. At least _I'm_ not going around just crushing people's hearts. Makes you cold, and crazy. Alice." She stated this as though this was a deal breaker for me.

I raised a brow and let out a little laugh but didn't respond. Personally, I just felt guilty for her thinking this was like the Mike situation at all when I felt like it wasn't whatsoever. She'd begged for his attention while I can't seem to get Jakes to go away from me.

Silence continued until we all heard a lone wolf's howl in the distance. My spine froze as I felt fear wash over me, there were a lot of those around here it seemed. A lot more than I remembered growing up.

"That's funny. Almost sounds like a wolf." My mother remarked oddly to herself. I nodded into my plate but didn't say anything more.

"Oh wow, it's almost 7. I should get going, told my dad I'd be home by now." Jake spoke quickly, making my head pop up in suspicion. He was moving to put his plate away into the sink like he already knew he was supposed to do that. Interesting.

"You be safe, Jacob." My mother called out to him as he moved past the table towards the door in a rush.

"Always am, ma'am. Thank you for dinner!" He yelled his thanks as the door opened and he popped out of it like a bat out of hell.

"Okay so what's up, you two?" My mom cut the shit real quick, like as soon as he closed the door behind him. She waited with her brows raised and her hands joined on the table, like a lioness crouched and waiting for her prey to twitch so she could rip it in half.

"Alice?" She turned her penetrating gaze to me. I knew this one, Nina had it too. It's what they used when they wanted answers and they wanted them now.

"What?" I raised a brow in return, refusing to crack simply because I already felt a little crazy. Didn't need my mother checking me into an asylum because I claimed psycho shit about the chief's son of all things. She seemed to know that I wouldn't be the one to fall first, so she turned it onto Nina. The weak link.

Nina stared at her for a second, her eyes darted back towards my own. I raised a brow, daring her to say jack shit. She raised a brow in return and plastered a serenely sweet smile onto her face, turning towards mom. So the dare _might_ not have been my best plan.

"Alice is leading Jacob on." Nina stated outright, making my mouth pop open in indignation.

"I am not! What the hell?! YOU'RE the one that flirted with him to fix mom's heating!" I screeched, getting heated as I banged my hands onto the table. The plates, silverware, and cups shook harshly as Nina's mouth dropped open and she immediately reciprocated.

"I did NOT! I LIK-" Nina's screechy voice is one of the kinds that makes you want to plug your ears and submit before she pops your eyeballs and eardrums.

"DON'T GET MAD AT ME JUST BECAUSE HE ENDED UP LIKING ME MORE THAN A GOLD-DIGGER!" I yelled, trying to be heard over her shouting.

"You bitch." She seemed to have at least heard my insult over herself because next thing I knew I had a face full of soft drink. My eyes burned as I struggled to wipe it away with nothing but my hands.

"Nina!" Our mother's voice cut through the fight as I spotted Nina's arm swing up with a fork in her hand and elected to push her chair back with the heel of my foot.

"ALICE!" Mom yelled my name, as Nina yelped and fell backwards with a thud, effectively stopping the fight with two words and drew our attention. I felt the smallest of smirks as I eyed her shins laying on-top of the overturned chair. Sweet sweet revenge.

"Alice. Go to your room. I see I completely overestimated the maturity of you two being able to discuss things like _adults_." My mother hissed as she glared at the smirk cropping up on my face. Whatever. I shrugged, standing up and turning towards to go to my room as I continued to wipe away the sugary clear syrup from my eyes and cheeks. I got to my room and threw myself onto the top of it, glaring at the ceiling as I heard my mother and sister moving around downstairs.

She kept saying something along the lines of 'ow' and 'sorry' while my mother just seemed to tsk. I felt frustration build up and up and up and eventually made a split decision. I threw on my jacket and a pair of heeled boots. After closing my door ever so quietly, I creeped to my window and edged myself out of it, hanging onto the ledge with severe urgency...maybe I hadn't thought this out well?

I glanced back in the darkness towards the tree that I'd thought was much closer than it actually was. Shit me. Why are you so stupid, Alice? Why? I looked away from the tree to the ground in some attempt to try and gauge the distance.

This had started out as a good idea, to get some time away from my mother and sister. All to myself. I knew I couldn't leave through the door so I chose the window and here I was. Hanging by the tips of my fingers and balanced by the tips of my toes. Jake had made this seem so easy. What the shit? I pressed my lips together and decided it couldn't be that bad so I took in a deep breath and forced myself to just let go.

My fingers released the ledge in one swoop and I forgot to try and twist myself around to land on my feet. Instead I hit the grass with an 'Omph' on my back, knocking the air out of myself. Okay. Bigger drop than originally thought. Alright, time to stand up, Alice...please? Come on.

I was trying to get my limbs to move but it seemed I was only going in slow motion, unable to actually get my body into a full swing so I could roll over to the side and stand. It felt like I couldn't catch my breath well enough to move myself but I was really going to have to because I knew my mother or my sister would pop into my room soon enough, searching for me.

A few more breathes and I found myself rolling to the side and slowly crawling to my feet. Possibly not my best plan but I did get out, quietly and covertly enough for me. At least now I know I _can_ survive a dead drop of like a single floor?

* * *

The waves held less allure than I originally thought they would, which led me to sit in the woods after a while of wandering. It was dark out here, and I'd been texting Adam up until he'd passed out probably about a minute or two ago considering he hadn't messaged me back at all.

I was wondering whether or not I wanted to bail out and just head back home to deal with the whiplash of sneaking out after a fight with my sister or if I wanted to possibly hang out here for some more time.

"Penny for your thoughts?" A deep voice startled me a pinch and forced my head to spin around so quickly, I fell off the fallen log I'd been sitting on for the last hour or two.

"Where the hell did you come from?" I eyed this beast of a guy with worry, pale skin glinted back at me in the moonlight with shiny black curls and golden eyes to draw me in.

"Uh, my house?" He grinned at me, white teeth didn't contrast with his pale skin or the clothes that were stretched across his frame. He was huge. Bigger than Sam Uley which didn't exactly bode well for me.

"I'm gonna guess you're from the reservation." He asked after I didn't respond with his brows raised. I noted that he watched me with intelligently quick eyes as I watched him lean against another tree. His posture was casual enough, his hands stuffed into his pockets and his shoulders relaxed. It seemed I was the only one freakin out slightly here.

"Maybe." I pursed my lips, standing to my full height.

"Well you're definitely not from Forks, I'd remember a beautiful face like that." He winked, seemingly trying to get me to loosen up.

"Thanks, you're not too bad yourself." I muttered and looked at the ground quickly. I felt a slight blush dust my cheeks at the compliment, this guy was kinda beautiful in the oddest of ways. Large and intimidating for sure, but he felt entirely normal. Not crazy like Jake or his little cult, but like he was just a guy who happened to be walking by at this time of night.

"Emmett." He introduced himself, holding out a giant hand for me to shake.

"Alice." I put mine in his and shook it lightly. I was starting to feel a little cold and he seemed to be just as cold as I felt at the moment, he'd been out here for a while then.

"Oh dude, my sister's name is Alice." He grinned, letting his hand go back into his pocket. "Well one of them is, theres 3 of them so far. Alice, Bella, and Catharin." He counted his sisters off of his hand with fondness in his eyes.

"Thats a lot of sisters. I have one, well I have one twin sister. Nina." I explained slowly, feeling myself relax a little with this guy.

"I have two brothers too. Jasper, and Edward." He nodded to my statement. "I love the shit of out of them, even though they're kinda whipped as all hell." He chuckled, shrugging it off. I watched him with some fascination at his love of his siblings despite his beauty. Like, weren't guys like him supposed to be total douches?

"Oh yeah?" I raised a brow, prompting him to continue.

"Oh yeah. See Eddie used to have this _weird_ crush on Cat, whose dating Jasper by the way, but anyways he was always causing shit. But now he's got this even _weirder_ crush on Bella who can't even walk and chew gum at the same time." He continued happily, giving me a lot of detail into the slightly creepy world of his.

"Uh, let me get this straight. Your brother and sister...are...dating?" I raised a brow and titled my head forwards slightly to check I'd gotten that right.

"Yeah, but we're all adopted." He shrugged off my tone and expression with a grin. I made and O of understanding and glanced at my phone for a second to find the time was _2:34 AM._

"Shit. I have to go." I muttered quickly, waving to this guy before turning to go towards where I thought I'd come from.

"Hey! Uh, Alice. I'm... _pretty_ sure the way to your reservation is the other way." Emmett caught up with me, placing his hands gently on my shoulders to spin me back the right way.

"Oh right, okay." I nodded, shrugging it off. I mean, it was a dense forest so who knew how long I'd wander out here if I didn't follow his advice, right? Right.


	8. Chapter 8

**_This chapter was going to be longer eventually but I'll just save that half for the next one! So, a few things to note..._**

 ** _Anon: I feel like you've hit quite a few of my stories but I'm not entirely sure lol _**

**_Debbie Hicks: It feels like maybe you tried to write on some more to the story but also you sound like you were on some serious drugs when you wrote it. Id rate it...maybe 4/10. _**

**_I hope you guys find this just as interesting and Bella may be a bitch but I don't know if it'd be on purpose!_**

* * *

I went up to bed via climbing the tree near my window and saying a few Hail Mary's before I flung myself at the open window. I mean it really wasn't my best plan but I sure as hell wasn't going into through the front door.

I scraped up my elbow when I tried to shimmy but the point was that I got back into my room and I did that successfully. So, at least I have that? I crept in the dark, attempting to not knock anything over and cause a ruckus. I did it pretty well, avoiding any of the clutter I'd apparently mapped up unconsciously. I knew at some point I'd need to talk to my mom and sister but I also really just didn't want too.

Sleep came quickly enough but left me far too early. I woke up thanks to a phone call ringing loudly through it's speakers. I searched for the confounded thing but couldn't find it with my eyes closed despite the awful Staccato tinny beeps playing out in my ears. I opened one eye and then the other to glare at the screen as the name read out _**Jacob B.**_

"Hello?" I spoke groggily into the phone, wishing I hadn't somehow given him my number...when _did_ I give him my number?

"Alice? Where are you?" Jacob's voice was urgent, urgent enough to force me to sit upright in bed. I wasn't even sure why, its not like I cared what worried him before, so why did I care now?

"In bed? Like most people at..." I turned to look at the clock on my bedside right as he began yelling into the phone

"Alice its 9 AM!" He yelled sounding frustrated now, I ran a hand through my hair as I tried to force myself out of bed in a hurry.

"Right ri-" I started with one foot on the ground while the other got caught in the tangled up in my sheets. "OOmph." I face plantedd the floor as it knocked the air out of my lungs.

"You okay? I'll be there in like one minute." I could hear a lot of wind around the phone's mic, like he was running or the windows were rolled down in the car.

"Great." I groaned as I attempted to find some kind of grounding to push myself up with by my arms. I gave up using brute strength to fight my way out of the twisted sheets and ended the call to focus on actually using my brain for it. Guess Nina decided to leave me to sleep today...or she just didn't want to talk to me either

* * *

I'd realised I hadn't actually changed clothes as Jacob pulled up in front of my house so I focused on just putting on deodorant and making sure my hair was presentable. I'm pretty sure he called this the bunny or something, either way he seemed pretty damn proud of the loud roaring sound it arrived with.

"Could you be any louder?" I yelled over my shoulder as I locked the front door. Jake didn't really respond vocally, instead he just revved the engine as I turned around and started walking slowly towards the car. That foggy sleepy feeling hadn't left me just yet, if it had, I doubt I would have gotten into a car with Jacob Black.

I didn't even think about why he'd know to come pick me up, or that I'd be late, or why he picked a car to show up in? I don't really think about much with Jake, I just assume he knows every little detail about my life somehow and react's accordingly...sounds crazy but its not been proven wrong yet. It was a 20 minute walk to school from where I lived so I figured this would be much easier and left it at that.

"How was your night?" I made awkward conversation as soon as I got in the car and locked in my seat belt. Jake generally talked so much, like 90 miles a minute kinda chatter but he was quiet as he drove. Eerily quiet.

"Ookay then." I pursed my lips as the silence continued on and choose to look away from Jake gripping the steering wheel for dear life. Instead I focused on the passing scenery and picking pieces of hair and greenery off of my clothes from last night's escapades.

"Is there som-" I started to talk as Jake's head snapped towards me.

"Did you go to Forks last night?" His voice had me stopping rather quickly, a broody tone was taking over and it felt almost accusatory.

"No?" I raised a brow, taking in the fact that his pupils had dilated to the extremes and he was shaking.

"Did someone come visit you then? Someone pale?" His questions appeared to have a clear line of reasoning and I could only guess he was doing that thing where he already knew what it is and just wanted me to admit it.

"No one came to visit me. I just took a walk last night." I felt my face tighten as it dawned on me that we weren't at school. We'd pulled off on the side of the road and Jake was seriously shaking, he looked angry as hell.

"You...took a walk. By yourself?" He raised a brow, still gripping the steering wheel rather tightly. I just nodded, watching his expression and trying to gauge if I should just take the day off or walk to school.

"Do you know how dangerous that is, Alice? T-theres thing you just don't understand about the woods!" His voice got a little louder than I was necessarily used to hearing from him. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned away from him a little, feeling uneasy.

"Like animals? I thought the Wolves weren't going to hurt me since they're just tribe members." I deadpanned, waiting for him to go ahead and back on his earlier points of 'all the stories are true'.

"No, like people. Dumbass." He glared at me pretty heavily, and it dawned on me that crazy people in the woods last night was a genuine concern...Oops.

"Well I only met one person, and he was great so no worries." I backtracked, and waved off any possible issues I could have had but didn't.

"Who? Who did you meet?" He'd let go of the steering wheel now and had turned to face me. I just shrugged, the sleepiness was quickly leaving me the more intense this car ride got.

"No one, Jacob." I pursed my lips, holding as still as I could in such a small space. I vaguely noticed he had the heat on it seemed, despite how warm he was on a daily basis.

"Jasper? Edward?" He started calling names that felt oddly familiar, but not enough so I just shrugged.

"Carlisle? Was it a big guy? Emmett?" Jake continued, calling a name I wasn't familiar with and finally the one that I think I'd met last night.

"That one. Emmett. Jeez, I hate to see you go down the line at school assemblies." I sighed, rolling my eyes at this situation.

"Of course it was Emmett." He growled, facing forwards again.

"What's that supposed to mean? And can you drive? We're going to be even more late than we already are." I growled back, waving my hand towards the road, annoyed.

"You find the _one_ guy that's available out of that group of freaks." He grumbled in some kind of half-assed explanation as he jerked the car back into motion and onto the road.

"What?" I snorted, looking at him to see if he was serious. He just glanced at me from the corner of his eyes and glared back at the road again.

"Omigod, you're serious. How was I supposed to know he was single? Its not like I meet people and ask what their relationship status is." I grumbled, shaking my head at the fact that my life has now just become a crazy script where the writers make up stupid shit to keep it interesting.

"I get that but can you maybe just not go out by yourself at night?" He seemed to be bargaining now, despite how angry he looked.

"No promises." I snorted, unbuckling my seat belt as we pulled into the school parking lot. I figured it'd take him some time to find a spot but when I looked up, Jake was making a bee-line for an empty spot near the door that Paul Lahote took two gigantic steps out of to join Embry and Jared on the curb. Either Jake ran everything incredibly organized and well-timed or he just had the best luck in the world.

"I'm going to need a promise, Ali." Jake suddenly sounded serious a moment after, cutting the car off and turning to face me. I stared back at him for a moment and shrugged with a sigh.

"Lets be honest here. You already know half of what I do and when I do it." I declared tiredly and opened my door, getting out.

I heard a growl pop up before it was quickly stopped, forcing me to spin around in the direction of Paul with suspicion. He'd slapped a hand over his nose...In fact Jared, and Embry had covered their noses too.

"Okay guys, real cute. So sorry I forgot to shower this morning." I threw up my hands, feeling a little insulted at the display.

"Why does she smell like the leeches?" Paul's voice was throaty and strained sounding as Jake popped up out of the car too. Leeches? What the shit? I _don't_ smell that bad, Christ.

"Don't freaking ask." Jake grumbled, glaring at the ground as he seemed to wait on the curb for me to come around. I pursed my lips as I glanced at the clock on my phone. We were late for the tribal history class...I hate that class.

* * *

"So I hear you and Nina are on the rocks." Adam fell into step with me after lunch. I sort of shrugged it off and tried to ignore the guilt that welled up inside my chest.

"Where'd you hear that from?" I sighed, looking at the crowds that swarmed around the lunch doors.

"Millie in 4th period. Apparently Nina told Millie's sister that you hit her head with a chair. Savage stuff, Alice. Absolutely barbaric." Adam declared warily as he stuck his hand into one of his jean pockets.

Millicent Bark was one of the gossips on the reservation and we kind of absolutely despised each other ever since I dumped apple sauce over her head in 3rd grade for making fun of Nina's ears. Her sister, Elizabeth, was almost worst if it wasn't for the fact that you'd expect something better since she was a year older.

"Oh my god. I did not hit her with a chair...I pushed her chair and she fell backwards and hit her head off the _ground._ " I grounded out, throwing my hands up in the air out of frustration. This was the first not so great feeling moment of the day. I'd gotten off with a warning for being so late thanks to Jake vouching I hadn't felt well this morning. Somehow Jake's word was better than my mom's or sister's because this was the first time in history that the whole 'I was sick' excuse worked.

"I'm just letting you know whats going around." He seemed pitying when he bumped my shoulder with his and gave me a small smile. I don't think I liked that very much.

"Did you ever try out for your basketball...thing?" I pursed my lips as I changed the subject and purposely walked past the cafeteria's entrance when I saw Nina sitting with Jared, Embry, and Jared's girlfriend near the entrance. I pushed open the heavy doors with a little more force than needed so we could go sit outside.

"Yeah. I got on...Pretty sure I told you about that last week though." He snorted, forcing another wave of guilt go over me. I didn't pay any attention to half of what Adam said to me. Why is he still friends with me?

"Right. I'm sorry." I sighed and collapsed on a bit of grass that already had the morning dew dried off of it either by the sun or another student. I heard him sit down near me as I stared up at the sky...and telephone pole wires.


	9. Chapter 9

_**This ran a little long in the making but here you go! Should make a little more sense now or something.**_

* * *

"It wasn't too hard, I mea-" Adam was telling me about how he'd grabbed the coaches attention with a wicked slam dunk but he'd been interrupted by a Jacob Black.

"Alice..." Jake's voice deemed it necessary for me to turn my head so I could glare at him from my place on Adam's thigh.

"Hey, Jacob." Adam sighed as he waved. He ended up dumping some of the grass he'd been pulling out onto my face, which forced me to sputter a little.

"Need to talk to you, Als." Jake declared with his hands tucked in his pockets as I sputtered to get dirt and grass out of my eyes and mouth.

"What-bleh- would you possibly need to talk to me about?" I spat out a piece of grass as I spoke to him, sitting up entirely now. Adam shifted uncomfortably behind me leading me to believe he was a little intimidated by the big guy that stood in front of both of us now.

"Well..." Jake's eyes strayed to Adam behind me with a raised brow and swiveled back to mine.

"You can go ahead and say whatever in front of Adam." I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Whats with you and Nina then? Why aren't you guys talking?" Jake rolled his eyes but asked none the less.

"We've agreed to disagree on some fronts and have left it at that." I declared warily, and looked away from Jake to the side of him.

"Bullshit. Why is everyone saying you beat the shit out of her with a chair?" He wasn't having any of it apparently, which sucks. It only sucked because I didn't hit her with a god damn chair but maybe I should. I guess my fatal flaw is that I like to avoid things? Is that a thing?

"I didn't! Jesus! I just kicked her chair so she couldn't stab me with a fork, the _ground_ hit her head!" I ranted, entirely exasperated. I am so done. I'm going to Geography and I'm bailing halfway through to go mope in the damn woods...because thats a thing I do now apparently.

"Alright, alright. Can't work out what differences then?" Jake raised his hands in surrender as he accepted my side of the story but continued on to try and figure out more.

"Just...differences! Okay? Leave me alone." I growled, attempting to shove him back as I stalked off...Did not do shit to his balance. He kind of just stared at me, looking a little amused that I'd even try to push him. Theres a kick to the ego.

* * *

This walk in the woods didn't start out this confusing, I mean originally it was really relaxing. I bailed out of geography half way through like I planned and disappeared into the woods in front of our school. Simple enough.

I even found my way towards the same little meadowy area I'd used before to unwind and I'd been just chilling up until a random girl popped out of the bushes and froze. She was sniffing the air and looked a mix of afraid and confused, about the same as me. Its not often that random ass people pop out of the trees in these parts...though it seemed like this was starting to be a common occurrence.

"Uh..." I started, staring at this woman. She wasn't even a girl honestly, she was absolutely beautiful though with white blonde hair that looked like it'd be soft as silk.

She was thin though, too thin. Thin to the point that I was pretty sure she had some sort of eating disorder but her eyes took the attention away from the wiry figure. I never realised how beautiful golden eyes could be but at the moment hers looked like she'd been caught like a deer in someone's headlights.

"You...you shouldn't be here." As She pointed at me, putting one of her arms into the sunlight, I vaguely noted she had some kind of southern accent. Like the kind from a movie like _Gone with the Wind._ I was distracted by her arm though, it had erupted into a mess of interesting prisms of light and blinding brightness as soon as the light hit it.

"What the fuck?" I was completely confused and bewildered at the fact that her arm turned into a disco ball in the sunlight.

Skin could be naturally reflective? Did she just bathe in glitter or did I just miss out on the diamond skin train? Maybe I've had an aneurysm and this is just what my brain thought I'd want to see before I died. I continued to stare in confusion as her head whipped around and she seemed to be trying to stop something invisible with her body.

"Jasper, no. Jazz!" She was yelling and waving her arms, great. I've found the one crazy person and she just really liked Jazz music.

A second probably passed by before a random guy came out of the forest like _The Flash_ only to be stopped by this slim woman which was a feat by itself. He wasn't built like Emmett but he was obviously rather athletic...and very angry.

"Why are you here?" He was practically barking at me and while it was most definitely terrifying, it was also a little annoying. I don't like to be yelled at.

"Because it's a free country?" I raised a brow and attempted to stare him down as his girlfriend, or sister possibly, held him back by an arm.

"This isn't your territory, mutt." He didn't take my sarcasm very well and I wasn't all that sure why he'd call me a mutt?

"Mutt? Do I look like a dog to you? Christ." I huffed, getting more offended than scared now. I was back tracking the decisions made up until this point...like not eating breakfast and possibly not saying bye to my mother and sister this morning.

Upon further thought, I shouldn't have skipped Geography...and I shouldn't have gone back into the woods. I could be in Geography, learning about the population density in India and China but instead I was currently in a stand off of sorts, staring down an angry, rabid looking man with honey blonde hair that curled around his ears. He would have been almost angelically beautiful if it weren't for the scars and the bared teeth...and the overwhelming feeling of terror that I had rushing inside my chest and throat.

I opened my mouth to speak and took a step forward slowly, just to try and talk him out of whatever he was thinking of doing to me. Stupid move on my part because before I knew it, he'd already jumped and locked my body down to the green forest floor. I tried to squirm under him but it wasn't happening, I don't think he even noticed that I was moving.

Oh no. Hes so heavy and hes so angry.

"What? The first time you tried to tear my wife apart wasn't enough?" He hissed, as I attempted to connect the dots that these _two_ crazy people had laid before me.

"Look, buddy. I don't give a shit about you or...your wife? You guys are how old?" I sputtered as it dawned on me that this guy who looked to be in his early 20s and this little anorexic looking girl were _married_? Even he looked confused now, slightly closing his mouth from where he'd been essentially hissing at me. This isn't the time to ask that, Alice.

"Jazz...thats what I was trying to tell you." The girl spoke up from behind him, patient sounding. Far more patient than I felt personally with this guy about to chomp my head off.

"She smells like them though and we both know a girl turned a few days ago." Jazz was apparently just as confused as I am now.

"She doesn't know anything. Look at her!" His wife was straight up yelling at him now as I laid under his grip, totally frozen. What does one even do in this situation?

"Whats your name, girl?" His attention was back on me but he seemed less angry now, more demanding though.

"Alice Evers." I responded quickly, forcing myself not to stutter and to stare him straight in the eyes. If I was going to be torn apart by this guy, I'd look him in the eye the whole time...probably.

"Are you a shape-shifter or not?" He spat the words at me, looking tense still.

"A what? What would I possibly _shift_ into?" I furrowed my brows as I stared at this guy incredulously. Theres probably no such thing...she said unconvincingly to herself after staring into this guy's black eyes and watching his wife's arm light up like a disco ball. So, I wasn't so sure anymore. He moved so fast, it was nauseating to watch.

"Talk to Jake, you're not going to convince me any better than he did about all those stupid stories." He froze as I spat that out at him, staring at me for a moment. I sounded a lot more brave than I felt and I just really hoped he couldn't tell I was freaking out mentally.

"Cat, we need to leave. Now." He was gone in a blink of the eye, near his so-called wife again. I sat up slowly, leaning on my elbows to stare at her as she seemed to debate it for a moment before finally nodding. Another blink and they were gone, nothing left to say they were here in the first place outside of leaves rustling near the ground.

What the fuck just happened here? First they were angry I existed and then they bailed. At least scar me physically if you're going to scar me mentally like that...damn.

I stared at the empty place for maybe a minute before I nearly jumped out of my skin when Jake came running through the bushes. He wasn't nearly as smooth as the other two had been, he kinda just catapulted to where I was.

"Sorry, sorry. I forgot how skittish you are!" He sounded a little winded as I stared at him for a little longer. I'm sure my eyes were huge, like I was on some serious drugs level huge...mainly because I felt like I had to be for this to actually make sense. People don't just sparkle, right? Thats not normal.

"Alice? Are you hurt?" He paused, his eyes scanned my figure on the ground and seemed to almost melt towards me. He was on his hands and knees as he came closer and placed a hand on my cheek. Jake was really warm.

"You're really warm." I noted, staring at his face still. I think I'm just having some trouble processing things right now? Maybe I should nap.

"Ali? Come here." He frowned as I continued to process for a minute, everyone was moving much faster than I thought people should. Correction, faster than people _could_.

No, its more that I just didn't understand _how_ he moved that fast. Jake's hands weaved their way under my knees and behind my back to pick me up. My arms moved to grip his neck out of a need to not feel like I was about to fall to my death at such a height.


	10. Chapter 9 Redone

_**So I wanted to try something different, this is just a redo of chapter nine but its mainly thanks to xIsntItFunnyx **_

_**Let me know what you guys think!**_

* * *

Adam and I were still outside during lunch break, him sitting up against a tree with my head laying on his thigh. Adam was my comfort from the problems I did not have the stomach to deal with – first Jacob, then my sister and now the school.

How could one simple encounter with Jacob Black start to unravel the foundation of my world? My sister meant everything to me and while we may not always be on the same page, we always had each other's back. Now, because she was obsessed with Jacob and had no way to process that his interest was elsewhere, she was sowing discord into not just our home life with Mom, but into our life at school. I wasn't deaf to the gossip that other people were spewing out at my expense and I wasn't blind to the horrified and disgusted looks other people were sending my way. It was like I was in the Twilight zone with no set path out.

What could I have done differently?

Never met Jacob Black.

What can I do?

Avoid.

The steady flow of Adam's voice from above me lulled me into a sense of security as he recounted his impressive slam dunk in gym class. This was familiar and 'familiar' I could handle. "It wasn't too hard – I mea-"

"Alice," Jake's voice cut through Adam's story like a knife, threatening to deflate my little bubble. My stomach dropped, the dullness Adam had provided me was now just falling away in waves. I felt my hand twitch to the sound of Jake's voice, like my body wanted to reach out while my head was straining in the other direction...Possibly to punch him.

I did not have it in me to respond, not when everything that I was avoiding started with him.

Adam answered instead with a wave, "Hey, Jacob." He sounded kinda deflated and sprinkled the grass he'd pulled up all over my face. It gave me something else to focus on other than Jacob.

"I need to talk to you, Alice," Jake continued, sounding more annoyed at my lack of response. Demands were starting to leak into his voice; he was restraining himself and I was a little irritated he'd even try that voice thing with me. The command was somewhat compelling and I rebelled. I was still uneasy about whatever was going on between Jake and me. I wanted to put that fire out as soon as possible, to avoid it from spreading more damage than it already had...which was quite a bit.

Adam's leg laid totally still underneath me, throwing my unease to the back burner and stirring up my defiance. I could either ignore him until he threw his version of a temper tantrum or, respond. I glanced up at Jake's rather large figure and decided the latter of the two was easier right now.

"What?" I sat up and tilted my head up toward Jake, taking in the way his broad shoulders were pulled back taught and his arms crossed over his chest, the muscles bunching up in controlled frustration.

His legs were spread wide – a commanding stance, ready to face an obstacle head-on. The very air around Jake had "Alpha" written all over it and I fought not to lean toward him like a moth to a flame. He just raised an eye brow as I met his eyes and felt the smallest of blushes drift across me. He'd caught me checking him out. Damn it, Alice. YOU'RE JUST ENCOURAGING HIM.

"What would you possibly need to talk to me about?" I huffed, and waited.

"Well…" Jake shifted in front of the sun, almost subconsciously, to give my eyes a break and let me see him properly. My brain-cells were having a great time of drumming up situations where he somehow cared for me past his craziness.

I raised a brow and waited, making hand-gestures for him to continue. He gave a pointed look at Adam before looking back to me. I glanced back to see Adam getting a little annoyed but he stayed silent, a third party to another one of Jake's and I's spats. I clenched my jaw, glaring at Jake for trying to make my friend not feel welcome. Adam was my rock these day and I wasn't about to deal with his guy's attitude without him.

"You can go ahead and say whatever you need to in front of Adam."

Jake sighed, uncrossing his arms. He cracked his neck as he relented to my stipulations but obviously did not back down from his original purpose...Guess I need to work on giving him a harder time then.

"What's with you and Nina?" His voice shot through me, wrapping around the tightly-wrapped ball of stress and anger I held inside.

"Nothing?" I played nonchalant, hoping he would back off the subject. "We've agreed to disagree on some fronts and have left it at that. It's a sister thing."

"I call bullshit." I adverted my eyes from his penetrating stare, to the side of him. "Why is everyone saying that you beat her up with a chair?" That accusatory tone got my attention.

"I didn't! Jesus! I just kicked her chair so that she wouldn't stab me with a fork – the _ground_ hit her head, not me!" I snapped, momentarily flustered that Jake's opinion of me meant enough for me to lose my cool. I didn't understand it. Or was it just that this was the second time I'd heard that...today...within an hour.

"Alright, alright," Jake conceded, raising his hands in fair game. His eyes softened but his determination did not. "Can't work out what differences, then?"

"Just – differences, okay?" I bit out, miffed that Jake was able to get ground on me when I was trying to avoid him.

"I gotta go." I announced and stood up abruptly.

"Alice." Jake sounded annoyed again, annoyed that I'd just get up and leave. I just shrugged as I dusted off my pants/ass. This wasn't working.

"See you later, Adam!" I called over my shoulder as I all but ran back inside the school.

I hoped Adam would forgive me for leaving him with Jacob Black.

* * *

The sun beat down on me in between passing clouds and tree branches. A light breeze brushed my hair over my shoulders. I pulled myself through the windy, cluttered path as I jumped over a large, protruding root and continued walking further and further into the forest, away from the school I had just left partway through class.

I couldn't get Jake's face out of my mind. As upset as I was about the fight with my sister and the domino-effect it was having on my life, it was my business and I kept my business private. Jake needed to mind his own damn business. He wanted to get my side of the story and twist what I was going through...probably.

He seemed sincere.

Why did he seem so sincere?

Well thats just it, Alice. He _seemed_ sincere.

It unnerved me how easily I relented to him; his questions, his demands, they rolled something out of me that was compliant, doughy, submissive. This sensation wasn't something I could brush off anymore, it was growing. Jake affected me. I didn't like it. I'm prickly, stubborn, and I don't do what people just tell me to do. This isn't okay.

I was not in control anymore and I resented him for it.

I was scared...or was I just annoyed?

My foot caught on a dirt shelf, sending me tumbling forward and breaking through the treeline into a clearing. Good job, me. I brushed myself and stood up, taking in my surroundings.

Somehow, I had spaced out enough to go on auto-pilot and my feet took me on a path I'd taken a possibly only a few times before. This was the place I come to, to get away from things that don't make sense. I could breathe here. This was my familiar place.

Walking out into the meadow and stretching my fingers wide by my sides, I took comfort in the way the grass itched my ankles and my feet pushed through the flowers and dead leaves. All the worry I had building up inside me these past few weeks melted away like hot butter. A small smile played on my lips. Jake, nor Nina, nor anyone else could find me here...outside of that one guy. What was his name? Emmet-

A twig snapped to my side and I snapped my head up, frantically focusing in on a figure that broke through the clearing. Holy shit.

It was small, a woman. A very small woman, worryingly so. White blonde hair fell like silk down her front to her hips. Little pink lips were open in a small 'o'. Rich, golden eyes pierced through me, her gaze as startled as my own. She seemed just as off-put by me as I was by her.

She was stunning. I was mesmerized. Yet, this woman who suddenly appeared looked ready to run either at me or away from me. Her posture was leaning forward, tense, rigid… and nose sniffing the air? Who does that?

As stunning and beautiful as this mysterious woman was, there was something animalistic about the way she faced me. Something odd. This isn't very normal, right? No...this isn't. Jake's words of warning to be wary of people in the woods ran through the front of my head at rapid fire. Shit.

My instincts went haywire, telling me both to run and to stay as still as a statue. My muscles locked up in response to the surge of adrenaline this woman drew out of me with her presence alone.

I felt exposed but confused.

The woman's voice broke through the meadow, a short but soft play on a piano's keys seemed to take away the urgency and confusion she spoke with. "You- You shouldn't be here?" I swayed at the sound, vaguely noting she had a southern drawl. An inkling in the back of my head warred with the spell I fell under at the sound of her voice.

Wake up.

Run! Or stay? Maybe stay.

The woman lifted her arm up in surprise to point at me. My eyes split into saucers when the sunlight passed through the clouds and hit her arm, sparking bright, blinding, prisms of light. Her diamond skin shook my terror free from the spell I fell under and I was left unbalanced, in a stupor.

"What the fuck?" I thought aloud and hastily took a step backwards, and then another, and another-

The woman suddenly turned to the side in a near blur, yelling at someone or something, "Jasper, no! JAZZ!". Why did I have to find the single, sparkling and crazy woman that loved Jazz music?

A figure appeared out of no where, standing in front of the woman. My voice halted, lodging painfully in my throat as I went cross-eyed trying to make sense of the figure – a man – that was suddenly 20 feet in front of me.

Honey blonde hair curled around his ears in a boyish way. Jaw clenched in barely-held fury. Lithe muscles bunched up, holding promise of delivering lightening-fast, merciless pain. Liquid amber eyes glared, pinning me in my spot. This man, in all his tightly-wound rage, was just as stunning as the woman he stood in front of. How do they _do_ that? Why can't I do that?

Instincts that had been warring with me when it came to the woman were now screaming at me with the arrival of the man.

Pain.

Death.

I was suddenly angry, confused and terrified. Waves of anger smashed into my chest like it'd come from somewhere else.

My breathing grew shorter, quicker, desperate. Subconsciously, my shoulders hunched and my head tilted to the side as I attempted to figure out what exactly was going on here. My body curled into itself. An invisible hand was clenching around my throat. I gulped for more air.

The lethal man took a step forward, closing and squeezing his fists in anger. "Why are you here?!"

They say when faced with unexpected dangerous situations, natural deer-in-the-headlights, adrenaline-surging reactions cause inappropriate behaviour.

"Because it's a free country. Why are you here?" Apparently 'they' are right. My terror rose incrementally.

I could see his muscles tensing even more, straining against his shirt to my brilliant response. I wanted to break our stare. I wanted to cry. I wanted to run away from these people and back into the forest for cover. I wanted to be back home where no danger could follow me. I wanted my life to be back to normal.

I couldn't break our stare, so I glared out of sheer brainlessness.

I shrank inside myself as his grew even stronger. Why you do this, Alice? Why?

"This isn't your territory, mutt." He was fury, danger and lethal precision wrapped in one.

Another instinct rose up in challenge to his degradation. Maybe pride, maybe stubbornness –

Maybe just plain stupidity.

I squared my shoulders, rose my chin, and hardened our gaze. "What did you just call-"

BAM!

A freight train ran into my ribs, knocking me off my feet and a sledgehammer swung down on my shoulder, slamming me straight onto my back. Ice-cold steel locked my wrist to the forest floor. My back bowed against something solid, lungs on fire as I gasped for air like a fish out of water. I saw stars.

"Holy mother of god." I gasped for air as I shifted uncomfortably and minute thoughts filtered through my head. Not normal, not safe. Very confused.

"What? Newbies don't heal as fast?" A voice somewhere close sneered at me, its breath brushing over my ear.

I fought to get air in my lungs. I think I might actually die here.

"Trying tear my wife apart before wasn't good enough?" The sneering turned to growling and I felt it against the nape of my neck. Terrific.

I was starting to black out from lack of oxygen.

"You had to come back for more?" The growling grew quieter and even more dangerous. I felt lips – and something sharp that made me want to cry even more– prodding my neck. Someone else's hair brushed against my face.

One breath! I gasped loudly, trying to suck in another breath for all my worth...which was not much apparently. The solid...person-thing above me would not budge to let me move for more air.

"Mutts like you never were cut out for the wild."

Three breaths!

Six breaths!

I greedily drank in oxygen, adrenaline overshadowing my pain as my mind sluggishly processed what the voice against my neck was saying. "What m-mutts?" My vision was coming back. Maybe I won't die here?

"Wife?" Tree branches loomed overhead.

How did I end up beneath the trees when I was just in the middle of the meadow? This is weird right?

"How old are you again?" Honey coloured hair blew lazily over my face and I looked down to see the man pinning me to the forest floor. The lips left my neck as the man lifted his face level above mine. Hostile amber eyes met mine, leaving no boundary uncrossed in their search for…. Something.

"What the hell?" the man above me muttered to himself and shifted. I sucked in another breath, he smelled like after shave, and leather.

"Jazz… that's what I was trying to tell you." The woman spoke up from behind him, sounding alarmingly patient for the situation.  
How did she hear him? I barely heard him right above me.

"She smells like them," he said slowly, seeming just as thrown-off as I was. "We both know a girl turned a few days ago." He sounded like he was defending himself.

The woman's patience snapped. "She doesn't know anything! Look at her!"

The man pinning me to the ground looked back at me, open hostility gone and in its place an unyielding command of the situation. "What's your name, girl?"

With a second's notice as I processed what he was asking, I shakily breathed out, "Al-Alice Evers."

"Are you a shape-shifter or not?"

"What?" I looked searchingly up into his face, desperate to know how to answer – anything to lessen my chances of more pain. No clues came up in the pools of liquid amber and I quietly resigned myself with incredulousness. "What could I possibly _shift_ into?"

A shot of denial surged from the recesses of my memories of Jake in the woods with his little confession and bloomed righteously into indignation. I glared incredulously at the man holding me down and spat, "Talk to Jake," I huffed in another deep breath of oxygen, "you're not going to convince me any better than he did about all those stupid stories."

The beautiful, dangerous man froze.

"Cat, we need to leave. Now." He was gone in a blink of the eye, near the woman again. From the protective stance he held around her and the caring gestures he was making to cajole her into leaving, I can only assume that this woman, Cat, was his wife.

I watched as the woman debated Jasper's demand for a moment before finally nodding. Another blink and they were gone, nothing left to say they were here in the first place other than leaves rustling on the ground.

I sat up slowly, shocked that while I felt sore as anything, nothing felt broken.

What.

The.

Fuck.

Twigs snapped and leaves rustled further inside the forest. I snapped my head around, screaming.

Did they come back?

I almost cried when Jake came running through the trees. His large, oversized form was strangely nimble among the forest. A tight, sheepish smile found its way to his lips. "Sorry, sorry, I forgot how skittish you are."

I'm sure my eyes were huge, like I was on some serious drugs, huge. I felt like I had to be for this to make sense. People don't just sparkle, right? Appear out of thin air? Feel like death? That's not normal.

"Alice? Are you hurt?" He paused, his eyes scanned my figure on the ground and seemed to almost melt towards me. He was heartbreakingly careful in walking closer to me. Crouching down softly beside me, he placed a hand on my cheek and angled my face toward him more.

"You're really warm." I noted.

"Ali? Come here." He frowned as I continued to process for a minute, everyone was moving much faster than I thought people should. Correction, faster than people could.

No, it's more that I just didn't understand how that mysterious blonde man moved that fast. Jake stayed silent, jaw clenched, as he gathered me in his arms; far more tender than I would have ever guessed. My arms moved to grip his neck, not just out of a need to feel like I wouldn't fall to my death at this height, but because-

He was familiar.


End file.
